This fantastic passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans is a favorite for many, and is often quoted by those who are facing difficult times. I’ve seen the words “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God” on many promise cards and wall plaques, serving up scriptural comfort to those who are in need of reassurance. These words are true; all things do, indeed, work together for good for those who love God. But this promise has a precision of application and a specificity of focus which escapes the realization of most who quote it. The promise doesn’t end with “for those who love God,” but extends also to those “who are called according to his purpose.” This is a critical condition on the promise: we are to be “called according to God’s purpose.” And this, of course, brings up the very pointed question: “what is God’s purpose?”

One of the things which I greatly appreciate about Paul’s letters is that he almost always answers these kinds of questions – he almost never leaves us wanting for an explanation. Paul is a practical theologian of the best kind: he deals with people’s problems and questions with workable spiritual advice and a great deal of patience. Such is the case here. What is God’s purpose to which we are called?  Paul spells it out in the next sentence: we are called “to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

This is an amazing statement, and if we are truly paying attention to what Paul is saying it should give us a moment of pause. Are we willing to be conformed to the image of Jesus?  The meaning of the word “conform” is “to comply,” “to behave according to socially acceptable conventions or standards,” or “to be similar in form or type.”  Do we really wish to have God so mold and shape us that our lives comply with the nature and will of Jesus Christ?  Do we even believe that this is possible?

This is the theological root and meaning of the doctrine of Sanctification, in which we proclaim that the grace of Jesus can and will transform us from the sinful people that we are into the kind of people that God wants us to become. In order to be so-conformed we are going to have to accept that our own objectives, our own desires, our own ideas and ways are going to have to be set aside to make room for God’s will, God’s plan, and God’s objective for us. Most of us are not going to be entirely comfortable with this necessity. We want to do things our own way and live according to what seems right to us.  We want to be in charge of ourselves, never giving up any bit of self-control to anyone else.  But God’s purpose for us is contrary to this individualistic drive which seems to be operating within most of us.  God’s purpose is that we be conformed to the image of Jesus, and this means that we’re going to have to give up the “self,” the “ego,” the demand that we get to do things “my way,” and accept God’s way as the rule in our lives. Are we ready for this calling? Are we truly ready for Jesus to be Lord?

I am convinced that most of us are really not so willing to be conformed to the image of Jesus as we would like to admit. We want to stay in charge ... or, at least, maintain the illusion that we’re in charge. This illusion of self-sufficiency keeps us from being open to the Will of God for our lives; we do not experience the fullness of what it means to be a Christian – a Child of God – because we are unwilling to be called according to God’s purpose. And, because we are unwilling to be called according to God’s purpose, are do not have the experience of “all things working together for good for those who love God.”

I encourage us all, as we move through the month of August and on toward our Revival in September, to give some prayerful consideration to those places in our lives where we have refused to be conformed to the image of Jesus. When we discover those places – and we will find some – let us lay them before the Lord and allow God to conform us to the image of Jesus.

© 2005, Rev. Gregory S. Neal
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