Our good vs. God's good

This morning I was reading Romans 8. In Romans 8 there is one of the most famous verses of the Bible. Verse 28. "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." I think people like this verse so much is because it's like when something doesn't go according to my plan, when I endure suffering, that means God is going to bring me good out of it.

So then we start imagining what good he will bring out of our devastating situation. Well maybe it happened this way so that this will happen then this will happen and then in the end, I will still really get what I want! We like that cause it means I'm gonna get something good out of this pain. I'm still gonna get what I want.

The only problem with this is that we kinda ignore verse 29. Verse 29 gives us a clue into what kind of good God is actually working out. With just verse 28 it's easy to assume he is working out what is good in my eyes. Our good, our ideal, our projections into the future of what he is doing that would make us happy.

Verse 29 "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son so that he might be the firstborn of many brothers."

The phrase I zoomed in on here is, "to be conformed to likeness of his son." Maybe the good we think we will get after suffering isn't so much an actual thing or a perfect situation. Maybe the good we get out of suffering is who we are becoming and how God is molding and shaping our character during the suffering. How he is conforming us in the likeness of Jesus.

Our idea of good is getting what we want. God's idea of good is making us like Christ.

How can he make us like Christ? Cause he made Christ like us... by that I mean this:

Christ was in a sense conformed into the likeness of man "being made in human likeness and being found in appearance of man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death on a cross." In his suffering he became unrighteous like us so that in our suffering we can become righteous like him.

And here is the beauty in all of this. Not only do we become like Christ, we end up getting what our hearts truly desire. In everything we want in life, I think what our hearts really want is to be chosen, validated, loved and esteemed by someone.

And here is what verse 30 says, "And those he predestined, he also called (chose), those he called, he also justified (validated), those he justified he also glorified (loved and esteemed)."