Posts Tagged: Romans 8:28-29

“Eyes in the Front of Our Head”

On June 7, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

There is a reason why we have eyes in the front of our heads. We were made to look forward and to move forward.

Yet I struggle with a tendency to keep looking back. I’ve had this tendency since I was young. However, now that I am old, the tendency is on steroids.

My twelve-step affirmation for today is as follows: “Today, by God’s grace, I am looking forward and moving forward toward the man God wants me to be. When I do this, I am the person God wants me to be.” As I usually do, I included this affirmation in my report to my sponsors.

One of my sponsors wrote back with some very thought-provoking questions:

“So, what does the man Daryl wants to be look like? Is this different than God’s wants?

Does God get what God wants?

I think you’re the man God wants you to be.”

The questions are probably more important than the answers. There are some questions that can and must be answered, but the best questions are those that continue to poke and probe and even haunt us.

As a would-be Christ-follower, I think that the answer to what God wants me to look like is found in Romans 8:29. Many Christians are familiar with and love Romans 8:28. Many have even memorized it.

“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, (English Standard Version)

But not as many of us are as familiar with vs. 29. That is most unfortunate, because verse 29 gives us the purpose that is mentioned in verse 28. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (ESV)

Being a brother or sister of Jesus—what a hoot! Way beyond a hoot! It is an amazingly gracious calling. Difficult? Yes! After all, Jesus lived and died for others. But still, it is an amazingly gracious calling.

So, what God wants is for me to bear a striking resemblance to Jesus. Am I there? I am most definitely not! However, I do believe that God is a little further along with me than he used to be. Conformed to the image of God’s Son? No, not yet. I am very much a work in progress. But that is what I want in my better moments. I have more of those better moments these days.

And God loves me right where I am, right now. I believe that for myself. I believe it for you too, dear reader. Life is a journey, not a destination, as the saying goes.

Yes indeed it is!

So, again, here are my sponsor’s questions, along with my right-now responses:

Q: “So, what does the man Daryl wants to be look like?” Jesus!

Q: “Is this different than God’s wants?” No, at least, not right now!

Q: “Does God get what God wants?” Today, I intend and plan for God to get exactly what God wants.

“I think you’re the man God wants you to be.” I dare to think so too.

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“Being an Icon of Jesus”

On April 12, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

The following is an entry from my journal this morning:

Thursday, April 12, 2018

I wonder if I am ever going to be the man I really want to be in my better moments.  I also wonder if the man I want to be—even in my best moments—is really the man I should be.

The boxes for picture jigsaw puzzles usually come with a picture.  These really help in putting the puzzle together.  Where is the picture of what I ought to be?

Perhaps that picture is Jesus.  However, how well do I know him?

His disciples followed him every day for three years.  Did they know him?  According to John 14:8-9, the answer may be no!

“8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”

The Greek word translated “image” here is the same word from which we get our word “icon.”  God is working all things together for our good, but that good is the process of becoming icons of Jesus.  And, of course, Jesus was crucified.

God never promised that everything would feel good or even be good.  If God had promised that, I imagine that we would all be atheists.

What God did promise is that He will work all things together for our good.  That is a very different matter.

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“SHAPING CIRCUMSTANCES VS. CIRCUMSTANCES SHAPING US”

On February 25, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29, New American Standard Bible, 1995)

My sponsor’s daily calendar thought for the day was, “I used to think I could shape the circumstances around me, but now I know Jesus uses circumstances to shape me.”  This is very much like what Paul is saying in Romans 8:29-29.

It is important to see what Paul is not saying, as well as what Paul is saying.  Paul is not saying that everything is good, in and of itself.  Paul is certainly not saying that everything feels good.  Good thing!  That would be a bunch of hooey.

What Paul is saying is that God uses all things for the good of those who love God.  But notice that the “good” is defined in the next verse.  And that “good” is to help us to become more like Jesus.

Now, a lot of people like Jesus, but they don’t necessarily want to become like Jesus.  I don’t want that most of the time either.  After all, Jesus was a poor man in a subjugated country, who had to borrow a coin from someone for a sermon illustration.  He suffered greatly during his life, a life which was ended when one of his own closest followers betrayed him to the authorities at the ripe old age of thirty-three.  Jesus was crucified on a roman cross, an execution that was reserved for criminals and runaway slaves.  Who wants to become like that?!

And yet, . . . and yet, . . . I sometimes do want to become like Jesus.  However, there is a process to go through.  I do believe that there are miraculous physical healings, but I am not sure that there are miraculous spiritual transformations.  There may be, but I have my doubts.

Instead, there is a continual process of transformation.  And this process involves God using everything we go through, the good and the bad, the big and the little, to transform us.  I fear that there is no moral and spiritual transformation without the process of moral and spiritual formation.

But, like a good farmer or cook, there is nothing God can’t or won’t use in the process of our formation/transformation.  We may not like all or most or any of these things God uses to make us more like Jesus.  We don’t have to like them, but we do need them.

We addicts are people who pretend that we are in control.  We are not, but we like to pretend.  The antidote to such unhelpful games of pretend (and the antidote tastes very bitter indeed) is to submit to reality.  If you think that’s an easy thing to do, you clearly have never tried.

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