Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Romans 8:28
Working Together
Romans 8:28 is a promise that everything that happens will be part of what works out for our very best. God promises that even bad things can work for our good, even evil done against us (Genesis 50:20). We only have to look at the cross to see how much good came from so much evil (John 3:16). Everything in life, according to this biblical doctrine, will be for our very best. We must simply trust God and take Him at His Word, for He is totally faithful in what He says through His Word, the Bible.
For His Purpose
God is more interested in His purpose for our lives than our own purposes. We can’t see how everything works together, but God can see into time and know that whatever happens to us will work according to His purpose, not ours. I would rather depend on His purposes than trust what I think. Romans 8:28 reminds us that everything that happens works according to His purpose, and I want that. Don’t you?
His Foreknowledge
God is not limited by time and space like we are. He’s already seen the future. That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote that “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28) and not our purpose because “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). God is interested in shaping us into the image of His Son so that we might be more like Him, even if it’s painful in the present.
The Image of His Son
We are all striving to be like Christ. That’s what the word “Christian” means: little Christ or Christ-like. This is God’s purpose through our pain, suffering, and whatever else we go through. Dwell on this glorious promise of God that “those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).
Conclusion
Remember that God is working in your life every day by whatever happens to you; that God is striving for His own perfect purposes; that God knows the future and knows what He’s doing; and that God wants us to be conformed or shaped into the image of the Son of God, not as glorious as He is but as much like Him as we can possible be in this life. That’s God’s purpose.
