Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. About a cultivated Roman represents himself as discoursing pleasantly with his friends about the supreme good. He explains the views of the rival philosophers; but after surveying the whole field, he concludes without a word to indicate in which direction his own preference lay. In this, perhaps, he represented the majority of the thoughtful men of his time. To them life was a problem without any sure key to its solution. About there were living in Rome a community of men who had arrived at the most astonishing conclusions on this very point. Though they were few and insignificant, they were persuaded that all the varied experiences of lifo worked out the highest blessedness. The explanation of the phenomenon was not to be found in any revolution, for things had perhaps changed for the worse. But something had happened in the interval which had set them in a new relation to all these things: and this was that the love of God, revealed in Christ, had been shed abroad in their hearts. I. THE GOOD TOWARDS WHICH EVERYTHING IS HERE DECLARED TO CO-OPERATE. The supreme good for man can never consist in anything external, for all such things are in their very nature inferior to Him, and are intended to serve as stepping-stones to something higher. Happiness consists in what we are and not in what we have. But what we are is precisely that which hinders our happiness, And the question is, How are we to compose our inward evils? To answer this we must find some one who has succeeded in being what it will be our blessedness to become, and who can help us to become like himself. Now Christ is God's conception of manhood realised. In Him was reached that complete equilibrium and repose of all our frailties in which true blessedness consists. In Him there was no inward contradiction, no want which filled His heart with a continual ache. To be truly blessed, therefore, is to be like Him (ver. 29). II. ALL THINGS COMBINE TO PRODUCE IN CHRISTIANS CONFORMITY TO CHRIST. Life with Christians, so far as its outward framework is concerned, remains exactly as before. It develops anxiety, sorrow, disappointment. But Christianity shows all these things subjected to a Divine will and purpose. The order in which they come, their duration, the weight and the angle of their incidence, are wisely and unerringly adjusted, Each contributes in its own imperceptible, it may be, but effectual way to the desired result. And it is just because we lose sight of this result we often find the text so hard to believe. When some sudden catastrophe swallows up a man's fortune we are apt to ask with incredulous lips how that can be for good. When sickness comes or death plucks our sweetest flowers, is it possible to accept the stroke as a blessing in disguise? Without a struggle Certainly not, and not even thus always at first. "No affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous," etc. Men are not made of cast-iron, and when they become Christians they do not cease to be men. Christ Himself once, at all events, submitted with strong cryings and tears. But if we only embrace the end of God's discipline we shall see that these very things which we think work nothing but evil and woe, bring about precisely the opposite effects. Had Christ no trials? And did they work anything but good? Is He less glorious because His brow was crowned with thorns? And so as there was nothing in the life of our Lord but ultimately ministered to His glory, and that life embraced all the experience of humanity, so there will be nothing in your life that will not make you liker to Him, if only you receive it in His spirit. Listen to that flood of music that at the touch of a single hand rolls from a hundred pipes. It may at first confuse, overwhelm, astonish you. But amid all the apparently conflicting sounds, a practised ear can detect the expression of one tumultuous emotion, or it may be the melody of a simple air, that, divested of its manifold accompaniments, might be played upon an oaten stop. And in like manner if you suffer your life to be controlled by God, there will run through it the harmony of a Divine purpose, conforming you to the image of His Son. III. THE CONDITION ON WHICH THIS WORKING TOGETHER OF ALL THINGS FOR GOOD IS BASED. That we love God. 1. It is plain that all things do not work together for good because of any peculiar virtue in the things themselves, nor simply because of the time and manner of their occurrence. Heat and moisture, light and air, are all necessary for the maturing of the crops; but if the soil be poor and insufficient, or foul with weeds, the harvest will be thin and disappointing, if it does not utterly fail. So the discipline of life may be all administered with the most beneficent design; but if there be no corresponding receptivity in us, it will do us no good. The skill, patience, and methods of the teacher may be unimpeachable; but if the pupil is lazy and disobedient these will not in themselves make him a scholar. He must to some extent make the aim of his teacher his own, and co-operate with him, in order to receive the full benefit of his tuition. Hence, St. Paul says we must love God if God's providence is to conform us to Christ, that is, we must be at one with Him in seeking the fulfilment of His purpose. 2. But loving God also describes that clinging to God as a child clings to his father, especially at the approach of peril, and which, even at the time of chastisement, never dreams of questioning His love. And there is much need of this. For though we may know the fact we often cannot understand the fashion, in which all things are to work together for our good. We cannot discern the perspective of life or see clearly the relation in which each part stands to the whole. And hence we must take much on trust. We must cling to God in the dark, remembering that He "leads the blind by a way that they know not," and yet that this way is sure to be the right one. 3. And lest at any time you should be shaken in your conviction of the blessed end of God's dealing, by the fear that you do not satisfy the condition of loving Him, then remember that this love is not so much a feeling as a posture or habit of the soul. 4. Then remember that the essence of love is obedience: "This is love, that we walk after His commandments." And be assured that if you are willing to be fashioned after the image of Christ, He will make good His word to you, and perfect that which concerneth you. (C. Moinet.) Parallel Verses KJV: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. |
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