READ: Rom. 8:28-30: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.…
Verse 28 says: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” God wants to bring His children through a time of suffering and difficulties into eternal salvation.
In 2 Cor. 4:17–5:10 Paul writes that we may see trials and hardships in our lives as “light affliction, which is but for a moment.” That suffering is necessary in order that we may later receive “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”
We groan now in an earthly tent that is being taken down. But at the same time, that makes us long all the more to be clothed with glory. Therefore we must take courage.
The “for good” of Rom. 8:28 lies in the fact that we remain in Christ and thus reach the ultimate goal. That goal is “the revealing of the glory of the children of God” (v.19), “the redemption of our body” (v.23). Then we will have come from suffering to glory (v.21).
Paul writes in Rom. 5:3: “we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.” For this, God uses “all things.” Verses 35 and 38 show what these things are. They include, besides encouraging matters, all sorts of misery and difficulties. Over all of this, God’s power reigns. He works it all out for good in our lives. God brings us through it. He carries us through it. His purpose is that we may be conformed to the image of His Son, through continual refining, repentance, and renewal (v.29).
This applies only to those who love God: those who take refuge in Him and follow Him, with a life of faith in which love for God and for their neighbor is evident. They may experience God’s nearness in everything with full assurance. For they may know that they are called by God and predestined for eternal glory, with the comfort that Christ died for them, giving them certainty of their acquittal.
Do we also suffer for the sake of Christ? If so, how?
Sing: Ps. 91:5