I was thinking today about Romans 8:28, a verse that proclaims God’s intentions to those who have committed their lives to following Him. I have also been thinking a lot about the creation story found in Genesis 1, marveling at God’s ability to form “good” out of nothing. He created light and it was “good”. He created land and seas and saw they too were good. Marvelous miracles, one after another, and every creation at the command of God’s voice was completed in the manner in which it had begun and the culmination of this assemblage of spectacular creation was a singular word. Good.
Mankind was no different. And at the end of the 6th day it wasn’t just good. It was very good.
Sin came. Suffering followed. A Savior came. Freedom followed.
So here we are, existing as a very good creation but lost in a very bad way, without a purpose and swollen with false righteousness. Free, yet, somehow, comfortable in our bindings. We’ve claimed the cross and the love that was demonstrated there but our actions are not necessarily very good. In fact, sometimes they are very bad.
Herein lies the beauty of Romans 8:28 in connection with Genesis 1. God’s creative abilities are on dramatic display. God has the ability to MAKE ALL THINGS work together for GOOD for those who love Him and are called.
We are all called. Not all of us love.
Love is the common reaction, proper considering what we have received.
But if we are able to love and commit to loving. If we were to accept our calling and bond it through the power of the Holy Spirit with our commitment to loving, something as miraculous as the creation story would occur. This is what we find in Romand 8:28.
The ability of the Creator to take all things and work them together for good. Our bad choices are not the end of us. Neither are our good choices. They are all worked together. Our sadness, our joy, our sorrow, our elation, all of it working together for good.
Allow God to take all of “you” and all of the “you” no one will ever see and all of the doubts and fears and hurts. Give Him “you” and watch how He makes you good. Very good. And watch a little more as He makes those around you very good because of your goodness.
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