“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)
Someone I know has been going through some very difficult situations in his life. He is dealing with relationship tensions, job strains, financial problems, and even health complications. Recently, he expressed his discouragement and struggles to a small group of friends. As the group listened to him, someone directed him to Romans 8. After they quoted the verse, the group began to tell him things like:
“Don’t worry about your job (which he was about to lose) because God will work it together for your good. He will bring you a better one.”
“I’m sorry that your marriage relationship is falling apart, but have confidence that God is working it together for your good.”
“I know finances are tough right now, but God is working it together for your good. He is teaching you something.”
Although the group had great intentions as they counseled him, I believe that they were providing him with a falsehope, while simultaneously not providing him with the realhope that is found in this passage.
The false hope of Romans 8:28: Your “fixed” life now
With the best of intentions, they were telling him that every struggle, every pain, and every hardship was going to be fixed. In a way this is true, but we are not promised that it will be fixed on our schedule, in our timing, or even in our lifetime. The truth is that suffering is a very real part of a Christian’s life. The pain and struggles of our lives are unavoidable byproducts of our sinful world. It’s simply our reality.
Thankfully, that is not where our hope is found. In Christ, our hope is that God’s grace is sufficient through the struggles, through the pain, and through the sickness. (2 Cor 12:9)
The real hope of Romans 8:28: Future Glory
So what then? What does Romans 8:28 mean? If it is true that this world is broken, how can God truly work all things together for good?
The real hope of Romans 8:28 is found in the context of the rest of the chapter.
“For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18 (ESV)
In Romans chapter 8, Paul is talking about the moment in which “creation itself will be set free from its bondage of decay”(vs. 21). It is the moment when sin and death are finally conquered. It is the moment when all of creation is made new and redemption is complete. It is the moment when the broken is fixed.
Paul calls it “the future glory.”
I believe that God will work all things together for the good of those whom he called, but I believe that He is doing it on a grander scale than we can often imagine. Through Christ, all known and unknown history, all existence, and every human experience are being worked together toward completion for the good of His purpose. God will make all things right.
As we look at all of the pain, sickness, sadness, sin, abuse, addiction, violence, and suffering of our world today, as believers in Christ we are able to say with confidence that God will somehow and in some way work all of this together for the good. Even though our world is broken now, we believe that God is redeeming all things!
This is our Christian hope.
After God created the world, He looked at it and said, “It is good.”(Gen 1:4, 1:10, 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, 1:25, 1:31) I believe that there will be a day when God’s redemption plan is completed, and He will again look and say, “It is good.”