As we continue through the book of Romans, we’re seeing how the Spirit-led life brings about God’s will. His goal is to conform us to the image of Christ Jesus. The next verse is a summary of how the Lord does this.

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 8:30

In my last post we saw that our predestination was based upon the foreknowledge of God. He knew we would bow our knee to Christ, so He set our destination in Him.

Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, there are a progression of things that God works in our lives.

First, it says that He called us. What’s this talking about?

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:20

The Lord is calling you to draw near through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. His call goes out to everybody, but not all will answer.

For those who do answer this call, there’s more ahead. There are deeper callings, the more we advance forward in Christ.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:12

Our callings get more and more refined as we answer and obey. These callings bring us deeper and deeper into the destiny God has prepared for us.

The next step in God’s plan, is that He justifies us…He makes us innocent. This is only for those who respond to the first call…the call to submit to Christ. These are the ones God foreknew.

The final step is to be made glorious. This Greek word means that others place a high weight on your opinion, they value your words. As we’ve been seeing through Romans, people should be looking to you for freedom.

I believe this is why, many times, we hear those words, “I thought you were a Christian. Why did you…?” God wants us to be sought after for the solutions to life’s problems. Yet, many Christians are stumbling around through life themselves.

We need to get our lives back on track with God’s Word. The world is in desperate need to see us at that level.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

That’s a very good question that Paul asks at this point. What else is there to say? Literally – if God is over us, then who can come down on us?

Think about what was said earlier in this chapter of Romans. My spirit and the Holy Spirit are in conference over me. The Holy Spirit conferences over all the saints. So, if God is over us, we can definitely walk in His victory.

We must submit to the Holy Spirit so He can bring us to this point of maturity.

Question: What would your life look like if you were perfectly submitted to the Holy Spirit?

© 2021 Nick Zaccardi