Smoodock's Blog

Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for good…” but how can they? How can death, accidents, personal failures and other unwanted predicaments work for my good? Fritz Rindenour uses an entire chapter in his book “How to be a Christian Without Being Religious” to respond to this very question. In it he claims that Christians love to quote this verse to other people, but how many of us are really willing to consider it or believe it works for us? Few of us really put this verse to a personal test, or better, allow ourselves to be tested by it.

Lets look at the statement in its context:

Romans 8:28-30 KJV  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  (29)  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  (30)  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The fact is, if this verse makes any sense at all, it makes sense to the Christian. The key to understanding Paul’s point is to read past everything working together for good. It all works for my good only if I love God. It all works for my good only if I fit into the plan of God. Ecclesiastes tells us that time and chance happens to all people (Ecclesiastes 9:11). That is age bears down upon us all, we all grow weaker and some or our goals fall by the wayside, unmet. The element of **chance** comes into everyone’s life. Accidents will occur—no one planned them. They just happen. People will die, and some of those we love will be among the people who die. Someone else gets the promotion or the reward and I get overlooked. Was it planned that way, or was the other person simply in the right place at the right time? Nevertheless, Romans 8:28 tells us, that if I am a Christian, everything that does occur in my life doesn’t happen by the luck of the draw, but even if it does, even it will be used for my benefit. How so?

The first key to seeing this is that I love God, and the second key is that the reason that I love God is that he first loved me (1John 4:19; Romans 8:29-30)—and if he loves me, he has called me and fits me into his plans. Problem is, it is easier to love God when everything is going well. It is in the midst of adverse circumstance that my love is tested. Do I really love God? Will I permit anything to separate me from him? The fact is, God has already proven himself to me. He has shown me in Christ, Jesus, that nothing will separate me from his love (Romans 8:38-39). Why would Christ die for me only to reject me? Why would the Father reject me, if he sent his only Son to bear the responsibility of all my sins and die in my place? Why would these things be done for me, if anything could separate me from the love of my God found in Christ my Savior?

Consider this. God is our Creator. The various circumstances of our lives are used by him to conform us into the image of his Son. He is the Sculpture and we are the stone image. He keeps chipping away at my pride, my temper, my deceit and my jealousy. He removes those things that do not reflect his Son, so that what is left is that which expresses Christ in my life. Each of us is conformed to Christ in a different way, reflecting and magnifying different aspects of his character. How this is done is through the hardship of our undesired circumstances. And, in it all we become “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37).

The phrase “ we are more than conquerors” always troubled me years ago, because the idea of a conqueror is “I win!” But if **I win** how is it I so often feel defeated? Well, that’s the point. The conqueror feels no need to change, no need to conform to someone or something other than the image he himself has created for himself. The fact that I am defeated so often, but knowing God is there with me, encourages me to continue. I consider what has occurred, and I yield to his knowing hand to change me into what he desires. And, though I am defeated, I am not overcome, because I continue on toward the goal, believing that the one I love is worth it all, and that he will never leave me or forsake me. Coming to recognize this is much more than being a conqueror, and I would have it no other way.

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