Good In All Things: A Valentine’s Day Special
Valentine’s Day is a holiday of mixed emotions. For some, it’s a day to celebrate marital love and commitment. For others, it’s a day to make a boyfriend or girlfriend feel special and loved, while for others, it’s a day of mourning lost love or rejection. This particular day may even incite feelings of loneliness or longing for the single person as they wait for someone special to cross their path. Regardless of which category that you may fall in this Valentine’s Day, allow me to extend a word of encouragement and hope to you.
In his letter to the Roman church, Paul addresses the hope that the Christian has with the indwelling Spirit in comparison to those who live in the flesh (Rom. 8:9-11). With a gaze to God’s restorative work in creation and believers themselves, the apostle offers a promise and reality of encouragement in the present to those of the Spirit awaiting future redemption in present weakness (Rom. 8:18-29). As we walk through this life, Paul declares,
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. 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” (Rom. 8:28-29, ESV).
For those of us who love God, believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we are given a powerful assurance: all things work together for good. All things. I think that sometimes we may read this passage and glaze over that very important qualifier. Not some things, but all things. God works all things to our good.
If I stopped here, I run the risk of misleading you. “Good” can mean a lot of things. Does this “good” mean the assurance of a happy and easy marriage? Does it mean the guarantee that your boyfriend will propose? That the girl of your dreams will share feelings for you? That your broken heart will heal overnight? That you will soon find “your person,” and all the loneliness will dissipate and the longing will be satisfied? That you will spend Valentine’s Day with someone special?
The answer is not necessarily, at least, this is not the good promised to us in Romans 8. While some of these things may happen at some point or in certain ways, these hopes are not the hope of good in this context. Romans 8:28 does not promise your “good,” as you define it, believe it to be, limit it to, or wish it was.
No, Romans 8:29 reveals the good that Paul means: “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The verses can then be understood to make this promise: “for those who love God all things work together for good, which is our being conformed to the image of His Son.”
As we await full restoration, we hold the promise that all things for the believer lead to us becoming more and more like Jesus. Marriages, dating relationships, love, pursuit, being pursued, companionship, broken hearts, broken promises, rejection, loneliness, the death of a future hoped for, longing, singleness, and past mistakes. Even “the sufferings of this present time” (Rom. 8:18) and “our weakness” (Rom. 8:26) will all work towards our becoming more and more like Jesus.
How is this hope, especially during Valentine’s season? Brothers and sisters in Christ, we might long for companionship. We might mourn hurt or loss. We may wish marriage was a constant state of happiness. We might ask God why it happened that way. We might fear losing that person. We might think that life couldn’t be any better than it is right now. We might pray that the good times that we are experiencing would never go away. However, our deepest longing is for restoration, the restoration of brokenness in this world. This brokenness manifests itself in our relationships, regardless of any season. Even the best times still carry a scent of the brokenness of this world. Yet, the Christian awaits the restoration of all things, both creation and the redemption of their earthly bodies (Rom. 8:20-24). In this waiting, we get to experience the beginnings of restoration in the present, as God uses the things that we experience to make us more like the One who is “the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). Jesus has already experienced the resurrection that we wait for to participate in full restoration. He is the firstborn of a restored humanity, and through His work, we can be the brothers of this firstborn.
This, friends, is real hope. Not a hope that waxes and wanes with the seasons of life. Not a hope that disappoints. This is a good that is constant. This is a good that is good for us. Despite what we declare good, God knows what our good really is, and He continues to give it to us. And, whether we are happy or sad this Valentine’s Day due to our circumstances, God will use this moment for our good. He restores us day by day, season by season. This, brothers and sisters, is good.