Romans - Part 4: SPIRITSample

Life: Pleasure and Pain

Romans 8:28 says:

“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.”

Every pleasure and pain in our lives will work together for good. How can it be?

Paul is declaring with certainty and authority that ALL THINGS in our lives will work together for our good as we live embracing God, our unwavering, immovable foundation. He is our rock and our fortress. Paul further describes WHO the people are that will receive this tremendous promise.

“Those who love God” will receive this assurance. As Jesus says, “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37.

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” – the things God has prepared for those who love him?” 1 Corinthians 2:9

God’s blessing and goodness are upon those who love Him.

Next, Paul details who are the beneficiaries of this promise: those who are “called according to His purpose.” It is God who calls us from darkness to light. From death to life. God loved us first and then planted love in our hearts, so we would love Him back. God pursues us. He reached down, found us, and grafted us into His family of God.

So, we are back to the beginning question, “Can every pleasure and pain work together for our good?” Paul sums it up in 2 Corinthians 3:18: We are all going “from glory to glory.” “But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

As we move from salvation to sanctification, God is progressively transforming us. What is the good that all things are working together for? It is to become like Jesus, to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. There is no higher purpose than to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 says, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

-Lisa Drainville