Romans 8:29-30, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, … 30And those he predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified” (NIV).
Our journey in and with Christ is one day at a time, this ought to be our prayer every day. God does not get us to our destiny fast because He is in the business of forming and filling. We realize that forming takes time compared to filling. If we can withstand the forming, filling will be no problem. How can we expect to be filled without being formed? In our text, we can see a continuous forming as we become. Look at the potter with the clay in His hand, even though the clay does not look like what He has in mind, in the mind of the potter, it’s a done deal. He only needs to form it into what he wants to form into. Someone wrote a book entitled, “God is not in a hurry,” I agree.
The bible says, “..those he called, He also JUSTIFIED“, how hard to feel justified when sometimes we don’t even understand what justification is all about. According to the dictionary, one of the definitions of “justify” is to “DECLARE FREE OF BLAME”. Can we say we are free of blame? what have we done to be justified anyway? how hard have we tried in our own efforts to do things that will make us justified? Romans 3:23,says “for ALL have sinned and FALL SHORT of the glory of God“. We’ve quoted this scripture many times but the question to ask, how short have we fallen? maybe we have fallen short enough to make if for the shortage to be justified. There is nothing in our own strength that can make us justified. Some religion teach that we have to make our way to God. The bible teaches that God has made a way for us to Himself. This is where Romans 5:1 comes in , “Therefore, having been JUSTIFIED by FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ“. How I praise God that we are not justified by works otherwise we would all be in trouble for we have fallen SHORT, very short of His glory. He has taken all the blame, guilt and shame away because of our faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9, “8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Our spirit is made new, not our body. Now the body is being formed that it might become; being transformed.
What blows my mind is that God did not leave us at justification to which I am ok with, He has gone a step further to glorify them that He justified. How can we grasp this? we cease from being just children of God to sons and daughters. Listen to how God glorified Job, Job 1:8, “Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” Are you glad that the Father brags about you to the enemy? yes, you may be weak, failed, and miserable yet He turns and calls those things, which are not as though they were simply because He has clothed each of us with garments of righteousness, and instead of the enemy seeing us, he sees God’s justification in our lives. In addition, God says, “He is my son or she is my daughter, have you considered them?”.
May our minds be renewed (transformed) to see ourselves the way the Father sees us and become what the Father wants us to become. If you are not saved yet, you have no covering and should do something about it. Do you see yourself becoming more and more like Jesus? I do. Blessings Ev
He Has Magnified His Word 