ROMANS 8:28
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
CONTEXT: This was spoken by the apostle Paul to the church in Rome.
In Romans 8:18-27 Paul had just been talking about how as Christians we will go through times of suffering (vs 18), hardships, troubles and persecutions (vs 35) and weakness (vs 26) in this life as we eagerly wait for the glory that is to be revealed at the redemption of our bodies when Jesus comes again (vs 23)!! And yet he explains that The Holy Spirit during this time will intercede on our behalf with groanings that words cannot express (vs 26-27). It is during these times of weakness, hardship and trials when we often don't know what to pray for or why these things are happening to us, that our Heavenly Father also now comforts us with Romans 8:28.
What is also amazing to note is that Paul was able to say this despite all the trials and hardships he had been through!! (2 Corinthians 6:4-10, 2 Corinthians 11:23-33) God truly is able to make all things work for the good of those who love Him!!
There are 4 things in this passage that can help encourage us in our journey through this life with Jesus as we await His second coming and the redemption of our bodies!!!
READ ROMANS 8:28
1.' AND WE KNOW that in all things God works for the good....'
Notice Paul doesn't say 'I'm relatively sure', or "we hope", or "we guess that in all things God works for the good... This shows that Paul had an ASSURANCE and CERTAINTY in this promise and fact from God in Romans 8:28!!
DO YOU HAVE AN ASSURANCE IN THE PROMISES OF GOD? Do you know beyond a doubt that God is faithful to His word? (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:13-18)
In 2 Corinthians 1:20 it says that all God’s promises are yes and amen in Jesus!!
The word for “know” is the Greek word “eido” which is to have knowledge about. Notice also that this promise is only for the believer. Paul says and WE KNOW.
2.' in ALL THINGS God works for the good...
God doesn't say here that life (All things) will be perfect once we become a Christian!! In fact in John 16:33 Jesus said WE WILL HAVE TROUBLE IN THIS LIFE as Christians and in 2 Timothy 3:12 that anyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted!! (See also Philippians 1:29, Romans 8:17, 1 Peter 4:12-14 that reveal that suffering is part of our Christian calling!)
But What He is saying is that in all situations (the good and the bad), God is working it for our good!!
Therefore will we learn to see God's goodness in every situation? Will we trust that He is using the tough times and trials in our life to mould us and strengthen our faith to become more like Him (James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-7)?
3.' God works FOR THE GOOD'
But according to who's definition of good? Our definition of God working for our good in a situation, and God's definition can be two different things!! So let's look at an example of this in John 16:5-7.
Smaller picture- Jesus is telling his disciples, (whom He has been with for the last 3 years), that He is going to die and leave them. This filled the disciples with grief (vs 6)!! How would they survive without Jesus being there with them? And yet in vs 7 we find that Jesus says 'IT IS FOR YOUR GOOD that I am going away.’ (NIV version)
Notice that according to Jesus (who sees the bigger picture), His departure would be for their good, because then He would be able to come and live in each one of them by the power of the Holy Spirit and multiply His ministry!!
But this was the last thing the disciples were thinking at that time!! They were filled with grief and sad that Jesus was leaving them!! What Jesus knew was good for them, and what the disciples would have been thinking was good for themselves would have been two different things!
In Psalm 119:68-71, the same Psalmist who says that GOD IS GOOD AND DOES GOOD (vs 68) also goes on to say “IT WAS GOOD FOR ME TO BE AFFLICTED so that I might learn your decrees.” (vs 71) (The psalmist recognised that because God is good, He allowed him to go through afflictions so that he would draw closer to God through His word!!)
Therefore will we recognise and trust that God working for our good is according to HIS DEFINITION of what is good for us, NOT OUR OWN?
(His definition of good could mean that instead of taking us out of that trial we are going through at the moment, He instead keeps us in that trial or tough circumstance a little bit longer so that our character is developed and our faith is increased unto maturity (James 1:2-4) and we learn to trust, rely on and cling on to Jesus more!! Romans 5:3-4, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9)
4.Jesus said this promise is ‘for those who LOVE HIM.. who have been called according to HIS PURPOSE’
BUT WHAT DOES IT TRULY MEAN TO LOVE JESUS?
We find that 3 times in John 14, Jesus tells us that to LOVE HIM is to OBEY HIS COMMANDS (John 14:15,21,23). To claim this promise in Romans 8:28, we therefore need to fulfil our part, which is to live a life of obedience to Jesus out of love for Him!! ARE YOU LIVING IN LOVE WITH JESUS AND OBEYING HIS WORD? This means we will live according to HIS WILL AND PURPOSE, not our own!! (Matthew 6:10, Matthew 26:39, John 6:38)
Only then can we truly know that in all things God our Heavenly Daddy will work it for our good to those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose, who have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus (become more like Jesus each day), who have been justified (just-as-if-I’ve-never-sinned) and glorified! (Romans 8:28-30)
God bless!!
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