1/3/2025
God Redeems All He Allows
Begin the new year with God
Even today, even now, God is working to redeem our pain and heartache for his glory and our good.
Introduction
As we continue our first week of the new year, today we’re going to look at how God redeems all that he allows. Each of us faces difficult seasons in our lives, but thankfully, God does not leave us there alone. Even today, even now, God is working to redeem our pain and heartache for his glory and our good.
Scripture
Romans 8:28–29 ESV
Devotional
What comes to mind when you think about your greatest fears for the future?
I could list several. So, as we look at trusting the Lord for today and our new year, let’s focus on this promise: God redeems all he allows.
Our God is a good Father who knows all of the problems you face and assures you that in Him, “all things work together for good.” In its original Greek language, this phrase could be literally translated as “every event in your life will cooperate with every other dimension of your life for your benefit.”
God is working through all things because He wants us to be “conformed to the image of his Son.” He uses every area of our lives to make us more like Jesus.
And in this way, God redeems all he allows. Let’s unpack this fact just a bit more.
Matthew 10:29 explains that because our God is sovereign, he must allow or cause all that happens in our world. But just because He allows certain things doesn’t mean he approves of them. And, because “God is love” as stated in 1 John 4:8, he can only want our best. And because he is “holy,” as Scripture tells us in Isaiah 6:3, he can never make a mistake.
But God would be making a mistake if he allowed or caused anything he did not redeem for a greater good, either in this world or the next. Since he can’t make a mistake, his character requires him to redeem all he allows to make us more like Jesus.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean we will always understand God’s redemption in this world. I don’t fully understand the car I drive or even the phone I use every day. But one day, you and I will understand what we can’t comprehend today (1 Corinthians 13:12).
All that is required of us is to have faith to receive the grace God desires to give. Those who love God and want to become like Jesus are the ones who most fully experience his redemption in their lives.
So today, will you put your life and your new year in the redemptive hands of your loving Father? If that feels difficult for you today, then let’s start by asking for His help.
Prayer
1. Meditate on the reality that God redeems every area of your life that you entrust to him.
God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9).
2. Ask your Father to show you how to be more like Jesus today. Pray that he will show you what you need to stop doing and start doing to be more like your Savior.
“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:6).
3. Ask God how you can partner with him in his work of redemption today.
“We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Worship
Go
Becoming like Jesus includes helping others to become like Jesus. Mark 10:45 says he came “not to be served but to serve,” and he calls us to do the same (John 13:14). And as we help others follow Christ, we actually become more like Christ as well.
There is no greater purpose than being like Jesus and helping others do the same. Will you open the door of your heart to him today? Is there someone else that you can help know Him better as well?
Extended reading: Romans 8
There is no greater purpose than being like Jesus and helping others be like Jesus.
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