September 12, 2017 (Tuesday)
What’s your favorite Bible verse? Most of us have difficulty selecting a favorite, because there are so many verses that have been a blessing to us. I have that problem also, but I will go out on a limb today and say, “Romans 8 is one of my favorite chapters, and verse 28 is one of my favorite verses.”
Romans 8 begins with an astounding affirmation: “..there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ No condemnation? For whom? For those who are “in Christ Jesus.” This is a favorite phrase of Paul: “in Christ.” It appears 118 times in his 13 letters of the New Testament. If a person accepts Jesus as Savior, he is “in Christ” and therefore saved and safe. The promises of God to his children are made to them because they are “in Christ.” There is no condemnation to those who are “in Christ.”
Romans 8:28 tells me that God has not left me to my own strength and wisdom to succeed in life, overcoming the many difficulties that present themselves. It says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Verse 29 tells us what that purpose is: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son..” If we submit to the Lord in our daily life, He will be working to bring about conformity to Christ, because He wants us to be more like Jesus.
I used to hear a word often: “Christlike.” Maybe I just have not been in the right place at the right time, but I don’t hear that description nearly as much nowadays as I did, say fifty years ago. It used to be the standard way of describing someone we know who sincerely follows Jesus as Lord and allows the Holy Spirit to produce in him or her love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When we see a person whose life is characterized by those qualities, we see a “Christlike” person–a person being conformed to the image of Christ by the power of God.
I have barely touched the surface of this wonderful chapter. It is so rich and full of blessings for the Christian. It is one of my favorites.
