My Favourite Verse: Romans 8:28
"And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8 v 28
What's Your Favourite Bible Verse?
What is your favourite Bible verse or passage?
I know that is like asking a parent which is their favourite child! We love them all equally don't we!
All Scripture is God-breathed, so we love every word, because every word comes out of the mouth of our beloved Lord and Saviour. Nevertheless, maybe there is a particular verse or passage that is especially meaningful to you, so you find yourself turning to it often, to feed on its truth and remind yourself of its beauty.
For me it has to be Romans 8 v 28.
Romans 8:28 in Context
In Romans chapter 8, the apostle Paul presents a spectacular, panoramic view of the glorious Gospel, covering the drama of God's Big Story, from Creation to New Creation. And this breath-taking chapter contains one of the most loved and quoted verses in the whole of Scripture, my favourite verse, v 28.
In the first half of the chapter, Paul waxes lyrical about the wonderful benefits of what Jesus has done for us by delivering us from the just condemnation we deserve because of our sin and bringing us into the amazing life of the Spirit. But Paul is not naïve. He knows only too well from his own experience that life is not all flowers. And so in v 18 the chapter pivots as Paul turns his attention to the cold hard reality of suffering, both universal and personal. His basic argument is as follows:
Paul's Argument, Step by Step
Creation is not as it should be or once was when God first brought it into being in the beginning – it groans under the curse of the fall when Adam and Eve rebelled against the goodness of God in the garden.
Christians are not immune from the effects of this curse. When we come to faith God doesn't pop us into an hermetically sealed bubble so we can bounce through the rest of our life unaffected by the brokenness around us – we groan too.
Sometimes in our suffering we don't know what or how to pray, but at this precise moment of weakness the Holy Spirit kicks in to inhabit our wordless groans and transport them to the Father as intelligible prayers. Our exasperated cry in moments of pain can be the purest and most powerful prayer we will ever utter.
The Father hears those prayers carried to him by the Spirit, and answers them by working our suffering for our good.
The good he works for us is to conform us to the likeness of Christ, so we, more and more, reflect the beauty of Jesus' character – he is able to use our suffering to do a deep work of personal transformation in us, so we become more like him.
One day all the groaning and the suffering will be over and God's work of transformation in us will finally be complete and the whole creation, including us, will be renewed and restored to God's perfect design.
And God will make sure all who love him and are called according to his purpose will make it to the end, we will be part of that eternal renewal, for nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ, not even death.
No wonder we often see Paul rejoicing in his suffering in the New Testament – not because he is a sado-masochist who enjoys pain for its own sake – but because he has a firm and clear vision of God's Big Story and he knows how God can turn even our deepest pain into a means of grace and glory.
Fixing Our Eyes on What Is Unseen
In 2 Corinthians 4 v 16-18 he encourages us to fix our eyes on the unseen prize awaiting us at the end, for measured against the weight and eternal permeance of the glory that will one day be ours, our current sufferings will seem light and momentary, and in fact even somehow contribute to our benefit as God works them for our good, to make us more like Jesus, whose perfect image we will one day perfectly reflect:
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
Blessings
So, may I encourage you to fix your eyes firmly on Jesus this week, whatever your circumstances, knowing that he loves you and is working unceasingly for your good and his glory, which are two sides of the same golden coin.
Blessings,
Rev Rob
