“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NASB1995)

If we are loving God, what should that look like in our lives? It means that we are preferring what God prefers, which is all that is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to his New Covenant commands. It means we are preferring to live through Christ, choosing his choices, and obeying them in his power and strength and wisdom. So he is our Lord, and serving him with our lives and obeying his commands is what we do because we love him and we want to please him.

And what does it mean to be called according to his purpose? What is his purpose? Well Jesus left heaven and he came to the earth and he was born as a baby to a virgin woman, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And when he lived on the earth he was both man and God (God incarnate), the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he spread the true message of the gospel to the people. But he was hated and put to death on a cross because he spoke the truth that they did not want to hear.

But in his death on that cross he put our sins to death with him, and he was resurrected from the dead, so that, by faith in him, we will now die with him to sin and walk in obedience to his commands in holy living, by the grace of God, in the power of God. He is now King of our lives. And he is the one directing our steps and not the flesh. And our lives are surrendered to him to doing his will day by day in going where he sends us and in saying what he commands and in doing whatever it is that he has planned for our lives.

We are clay in the hands of the Potter (God) being molded into the likeness of Jesus Christ as we cooperate fully with God’s work of grace in our lives in changing us and in purifying our hearts. And God causes all things to work together for good for us. But this is not by a human definition of “good,” but by God’s definition of “good” which has to do with what originates from God and is empowered by God in our lives, i.e. what is for our spiritual benefit, our eternal benefit, to make us more like Jesus in our walks of faith in him.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

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Are You Called According to His Purpose?
An Original Work / March 13, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love