QTVOTD: Commonly Out of Context…

We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware andloved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.
And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being]. Romans 8:28-30 [AMP]

Verse 28 of Romans 8 is commonly taken out of context to be interpreted as good things will always come to those who love God. Pastor Graydon Cress covers this really well in his “Context is King“ podcast on this verse.

It’s important to read the context of this passage to understand the meaning of verse 28. Paul just gets done talking to us about enduring suffering and how in our perseverance through suffering, God is using all of our circumstances for HIS glory. This good in doing things for his glory, may not be something we see in our scope of visibility or lifetime. God has known all along what this route to eternity would look like – creation waits, so do believers. Creation will be set free, so will believers. Creation groans, so do believers in suffering. Believers in a situation of suffering and persecution need encouragement. Destined/Foreordained here refers to God knowing something in advance and affirms that He always had a plan to get believers to the finish line, working all things together for good. It means that their glorious destiny ‘is firmly set’ in God’s purposes, and no power on earth or in the heavens can dislodge it.

In verse 30 Paul’s tense of the verb ‘he . . . glorified’ represents a future act as something that is already accomplished since God has already determined that this glorification will happen. That is super comforting! Our future is secure!

Application:

Do I live as though this were true? Ummm, not so much. Embracing suffering because it is “to be molded into the image of His Son”…when God talks about this “being molded” He means that we will know the life that Christ knew. God also tells us that our greatest growth comes in the midst of suffering. Being in Christ does not diminish the misery caused by suffering, but it ‘makes it infinitely more bearable’.

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