“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 ESV).
Life often brings moments that are difficult to swallow, like a sickness, a job loss, or the death of a friend or family member. Those pills are bitter going down, and we often choke on them. Rest assured, God is up to something good in your life, even if you can’t see it. To hold on to hope in the midst of tough times, you’ll need to grab a hold of this truth. The Bible says it this way: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 ESV). The Bible isn’t saying that every event in your life will be good. We know that’s just not true. But it does mean that when you put your whole life together, every piece of it works together for good. It’s like making a cake. You may not like the taste of each ingredient, but when it’s all put together, it comes out tasting good. God wants to bake an amazingly tasty cake with your life, and he wants to use even the distasteful and bitter elements to do it. God also doesn’t say that everything works together like we want it to or that every story will have a happy ending. Not every business decision will make a million dollars. Not every couple that gets married lives happily ever after. Not every child will become captain of the football team. Instead, this verse reminds us that we can have absolute confidence that the Master Designer of the universe causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God. Hope isn’t the same as optimism. It isn’t the belief that something bad will turn out well. It’s the absolute confidence that every part of your life ultimately makes sense, regardless of how it turns out this side of eternity. From our vantage point, life looks like a mess at times. But God’s view from heaven isn’t the same as ours. You can’t even imagine the good that God has in store for your future. You can trust him with your present circumstances and your future, because he is always working for your good.
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“May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 GW).
In 1927 an American submarine collided with a Coast Guard vessel off the coast of Provincetown, Mass., and began to sink. The Coast Guard and Navy sent divers to assess the damage and begin a rescue operation. As the divers got close to the submarine, they heard a sailor tapping on the hull in Morse code. He asked, “Is there hope?” That’s a fundamental question of life. It’s asked every day by countless people in countless ways: when sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting test results, when a couple puts months and months into counseling and gets nowhere, when dealing with a tax accountant in bankruptcy court, or when a family hears their child is missing. You can survive 40 days without food, three days without water, and eight minutes without air. But you can’t last a single second without hope. It’s an essential part of life. When hope is gone, life is over. People everywhere are looking for hope in all the wrong places. They look for it in their relationships, in self-help books, in religion, and in self-righteousness. But there is only one place to find real hope. The Bible says real hope is found by turning to God: “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 GW). You need that kind of hope. And it’s only available through a relationship with Jesus Christ. When you trust in him, the Holy Spirit works in you to fill you with hope that God is in control, he loves you, and he is working for your good. That kind of hope will lift you from despair and give you room to breathe. “Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33 ESV).
The Bible says God completely accepts you and loves you unconditionally, and as you understand that truth, it will change your life. You will never, ever be the same again. One of the first things that will change is the feeling of shame you may carry. You don’t have to carry it anymore once you know the truth about God’s unconditional love. Some people go through life avoiding God because they feel ashamed and guilty. They think, “God is a perfect God, and I am so imperfect. Why in the world would I want to hang out with a perfect God who’s simply going to remind me of all the ways that I’ve failed?” But that’s not who God is. The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 ESV). You may have spent your entire life trying to gain the approval of other people. It has influenced how you dress, how you talk, and how you do so many of the things you do. But when you understand that God loves you unconditionally, you realize this: You don’t need anyone else’s approval except for God’s. When you know that God loves you and that you’re forgiven, you can shake off the shame and guilt because “there is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 GNT). Rejoice today that you can rest in the perfect love of your Father. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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