Love for God AND His Purpose

Last day for Romans 8:28.  Here it is:  “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  The last phrase is the focus today, “to those who are the called according to His purpose”.  There are many things I could say about this phrase but what I want you to see is that it modifies the phrase “those who love God”.  The “those” in “those who are called according to His purpose” are the same “those” in “those who love God”.  It is assumed that those who love God desire to follow God’s purpose and plan and that they are called by God to do so.  God invites us into a relationship with Him, calls us if you will, and when we enter that relationship through faith in Christ, we surrender our will and our agenda to God’s plan and purposes.  Of course, sometimes we struggle with this but the revelation of God’s word is clear. You can’t claim to love God and not love God’s purposes.  That is inconsistent with how God has revealed Himself and how He has revealed His relationship with His children.  If you say that you love God but you don’t care about His purpose or plan for you, then you don’t really love God.  The good news is that you can fix that by receiving His love through Jesus Christ.

So, as we conclude our look at this amazing promise, I’d like to ask you to take a moment to celebrate your God this morning.  Trust that you can know that all things are working together for good; even those things that by any human vantage point are not “good”.  Trust that God has a purpose and a plan for you and He will unfold that plan.  Trust in that plan even when it goes in a different direction than you had envisioned, dreamed or hoped.  Why? Because God loves you and is working out all things for good.