ROMANS 8:28 – And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
THEME OF THE DAY. ALL THINGS, EVEN OUR SINS. Today’s scripture is one of those “go to” verses when life is tough, confusing, and we are in a spiritual fog over what is happening in our lives. We run to this verse for help, encouragement and strength. And rightly so. It sure does lift up our hearts when life doesn’t make sense. But we need to dig a little deeper with this verse and especially the “all things” that God works together for good. One of my professors said, “All means all and that all that all means.” Pretty good, huh? Let’s apply it to the scripture of the day.
As we go through life with all its twists and turns, we believe God does indeed work all things for good; all our trials, all our tough circumstances, all our trying situations, and all our difficult relationships. He will sovereignly work to take all things and do good from them in our lives and for His glory. But when we say “all things”, guess what else that has to include? Our failures and sin. Yes, our gracious Lord will even use our failings and sin for our good. Here are two good things which will result.
First, God will humble us over our failings and sin. The most important virtue the Spirit of God must develop in us if we are to grow in Christ is humility. And this is hard work because pride is deeply entrenched in us. Yet, nothing humbles us more than when the Lord awakens us to see how bad sin is, how depraved we truly are, how helpless we are to overcome any sin, and then shows us how much He loves us despite ourselves. Encounters with the great love of God always produce deep humility in those encountering it.
Another good work God will do in us through our failings and sin is create a holy resolve to do battle against all sin. And it will be a war, not out of “have to” or unhealthy fear of God. No, we will do battle against sin, all sin, because we know what it does to the heart of God. When we see sin for what it truly is, a breaking of the heart of God, a betrayal of love to God, we will abstain from it, put it to death, and strive to distance ourselves from it. Should we see sin right, and God’s love to us as sinners, we won’t have a lackadaisical attitude toward sin. Pride does that. Humility, as a result of seeing sin in its true colors, creates a holy zeal to fight all sin, all the time.
Two of the most glorious and comforting attributes of our God are His absolute sovereignty over all things and His absolute goodness in all His workings. This means truly “all things do work together for good to those who love Him” and “all things” include our failings and sinning as they do the deep work of humility and holy resolve to fight all sin.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You that You make all things for my good, even my failings and sins.”
QUOTE: “All things work together for good, not some things, but all things. Trust God to make this true”