What God plans to do, He does.

Romans 8:30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. We can take awesome encouragement today from vs. 30 of Rom. 8 because we learn that from God’s viewpoint, the work of conforming us into the image of Christ is done! With man, we might have good intentions, but that doesn’t mean that those intentions will be accomplished. However, with God, if He plans to do something, we can count it as done. His promises are Yes, and Amen! Our hearts should soar with anticipation and expectation of the hope of glory on that Great Day when Jesus returns and the sons of God are revealed in glory with Him. This is the love of God for us. It is steadfast, immovable, and ever flowing toward us until His love is perfectly revealed in our lives. Notice that all of the verbs are past tense. These brothers and sisters of Christ who were foreknown and predestined to be conformed to His image, God Himself called all of them without exception, and everyone He called, He also justified through His Son, and all who were justified, He also glorified with Him. It’s a done deal because all of these things are solely dependent upon God’s work. He has decided to love us! This gives us vision for how we are to love one another. We love with Jesus the way He loves us. Our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ does not depend upon what they do or don’t do. We love them because we want to love them for the glory of God—just like God wants to love us for His glory. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We are patient because we have received God’s patience. We are merciful because we have received mercy. On and on we could go until it is culminated in John’s great statement in 1 Jo. 4:19. “We love, because He first loved us.” Consider the perfection of God’s love, and let’s love today like He loves us. If we intend to love, by God’s grace may we love well to the very end. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com