READING: Romans 8-10
I am incredibly grateful that I’m a child of God. More than 40 years ago, God saved me. Through His Spirit, He adopted me, gave me life, and today testifies with my spirit that I am truly one of God’s children (Rom 8:14-16). It is only through His Spirit that I can “put to death the misdeeds of the body” (Rom 8:13), and it is through Him that I have life and peace (Rom 8:6). The life God gives me simply becomes more real to me every day.
Moreover, I’m reminded by today’s reading that I can live in victory because of God’s power in my life. Paul recognized that we would suffer in this life and would long for our ultimate redemption — but in the meantime, God “works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). In those toughest times, Jesus Christ “is at the right hand of God . . . interceding for us” (Rom 8:34). Likewise, “the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans . . . . In accordance with the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27). Think about those words, then: when life is hard, God the Son is praying for us, and God the Spirit joins Him in the prayer chorus. Both pray in alignment with the will of the Father, who is working all things together for our good. We cannot lose when that’s the scenario.
Then, today’s reading also reminds me of the grace of God that guides me. In a series of questions at the end of Romans 8, Paul spoke to his readers about the ever-present hand of God in believers’ lives. The unspoken answer to some of these questions is “Satan,” but Satan does not have the ultimate victory. He does stand against us, but the God who gave His Son for us will give us all that we need to follow Him (Rom 8:31-32). Satan is the accuser who seeks to accuse before the Father (see Zech 3:1-6), but it is “God who justifies” us (Rom 8:33). Satan may wish to condemn us, but God allows “no one” to do that when “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:34, 1). We are “more than conquerors through him who loved us”; indeed, no demon or power can ever separate us from God’s love (Rom 8:37-39).
When I read all of this good news, I, like Paul, long for my family and friends to know this God.
ACTION STEPS:
- Consider these questions: if it were possible, would you be willing to be accursed so that others might know Jesus (Rom 9:3)? Is it your heart’s desire that others be saved (Rom 10:1)?
- All day long today, rejoice over the life that God has given you.
PRAYER: “Father, I don’t know why You love me the way You do, but I’m deeply grateful for that love. Thank You that nothing can separate me from that love.”
TOMORROW'S READING: Romans 11-13
