30. An Ongoing Journey
Romans 8:28–29 (ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For 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 8:28 is a verse that brings great comfort and hope to our hearts when we face difficult times. This verse assures us the Father is working behind the scenes in every situation to work out His plan in our lives. In all circumstances, He is bringing about good. This verse is an anchor to our souls and encourages us to trust Him in all things. He is our loving Dad, who is always acting for our best.
As beautiful and encouraging as this is, I think we sometimes miss a more profound truth that is being presented. We discover this deeper meaning when we link verse 28 with the following verse. Verse 29 starts with “For” or “Because”. This word links the two verses and shows that verse 29 is giving us the reason we know all things work together for good. This reason is that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. All things work together for good because God can use them to change us into the image of His Son. This puts a whole new slant on verse 28. The good in verse 28 is that God is working to make us more like Jesus. We often interpret verse 28 to say God is acting to assure our comfort. But in reality, it is saying God is using every situation to develop a Christ-like character in us.
We saw in our previous reading that when Jesus returns, He will transform us to be like Him. We shall reflect His glory and enter a sinless existence for eternity. Romans 8:28, 29 tells us that right now, in all circumstances of life, the Father is helping us to grow into mature sons and daughters who reflect His character.
By now, you would understand I passionately love my children. As they were growing up, my wife and I, like all good parents, would do everything to protect and shield them from any hurt. Life, however, has its share of cuts and bruises that we cannot avoid. Splinters and skinned knees are part of maturing. As toddlers, when the first skinned knees or splinters occurred, by the number of tears and screams, you would have thought the end of the world had come, and we would always respond with care and compassion. It broke our hearts to see them in any pain. Today, however, now that they are adults, we would expect them to display greater maturity toward these minor scrapes. Somehow, these painful experiences have helped them grow in character.
Please understand my heart. I am not trying to trivialise the real pains and hurts of life by comparing them to the bumps and scrapes of a normal childhood. To do so would be a great injustice. But the truth remains that often we learn the most significant lessons in the most painful of situations. For example, we only grow in patience by enduring frustration, and we only develop the ability to love by choosing to love and forgive those who hurt us.
Some of the greatest lessons we learn come from the most challenging experiences.
These verses are not saying that God causes bad things to happen to us, so we will mature. No, that is not what our Father is like. Instead, they say that in the difficulties of life, there is hope and that in these situations, we can trust Him to work out good. As our loving Father, He will help us in every circumstance. He is working out His good, and sometimes His good is more significant than our immediate comfort.
Paul states it this way in Romans.
Romans 5:3–5 (ESV) Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Are you facing challenges right now? I encourage you to continue to trust that He is working in this situation for your good. Believe for your circumstances to change. Continue to pray for the change you desire. He is a miracle-working God. But also understand that He can even use this circumstance to do a lasting work. And this lasting work will glorify Him and help you reflect His character and nature to this fallen world.
Further reading: Rom 5:3-5; Eph 1:4; Phil 1:6
What is the biggest challenge in your life right now?
What good might the Father be able to bring about in you through this situation?
How can you respond to this challenge so you reflect a greater Christlikeness to those around you?
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.