This is the third week of our “Finding Our Way” worship series. Romans 8:28 is a wonderful verse that offers hope to those seeking to love and serve God. It reminds us that God will bring about good in ways we may not see. We love God and God promises to do something good for those who love him. Should not this give us hope?

There are two challenges to this hope. The first challenge is that in order to live into this hope, we must lose ourselves. We must surrender our wants and ideas of what we think loving and serving God looks like. In John 12, Jesus describes this as like a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying. This is the only way it can bear fruit.

The Apostle Paul, and others, show us that those for whom God works all things together for good and calls according to his purpose are also those who are willing to lose themselves, to die to themselves. I’m certain that God’s purpose for Paul was nothing like what Paul imagined it would be. I’m certain that God’s purpose for us doesn’t look anything like what we think it looks like.

Paul only found his purpose once he died to what he thought being faithful to God meant. Only by surrendering to Christ could he see how God had been and was working in his life. It was only then that he could begin to understand that God does work all things together for good for the ones who love God and are called according to his purpose.

This leads to the second challenge. Once our purpose is identified, determination and perseverance take on greater importance, because the principalities and powers of this world will do everything possible to keep us from fulfilling that purpose. The principalities and powers of this world will try to convince us that because we are mortal human beings our lives have less meaning. Because we are broken human beings, our lives really can’t accomplish much and will probably mess up any attempt we make. They will try to cloud our vision from seeing how God works all things together for good and try to get us to focus on everything that is going wrong.

The good news is that when we surrender ourselves to Christ, we not only discover our purpose, but God also gives us new perspective. Paul describes this new perspective in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be see don’t last, but the things that can’t be see are eternal.”

The principalities and powers will try to convince us that the things we can see are the most important – physical health, bank accounts, material possessions, personal satisfaction. We need to care for these things as far as they impact our ability to fulling God’s purpose for us. But Paul says that they don’t last. Giving into them may have eternal consequences, but their authority and influence is only in this world.

Instead, we are to focus on the things that can’t be seen, because they have eternal value. Instead of focusing on the differences of people, we are to focus on seeing each person as a beloved creation of God who has infinite worth. Instead of focusing on what we can no longer do, we are to focus on building relationships built on forgiveness, partnership, and support. Instead of focusing on less people in church, we are to focus on seeing and being Christ. Because where two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, he is present. Instead of focusing on the church, we are to focus on seeing a mission. Instead of coming to listen to the pastor, we are to focus on listening to God. Instead of focusing on the struggles of the church, we are to focus on seeing what God can do.