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| "His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm we are God's children" |
I think growing up I wrongfully grew to understand shame and fear of mistakes instead of experiencing grace. I grew fearful of making mistakes because I did not want to be forgotten, unloved or unwanted. I missed the relationship part of following Christ. Verse 15 makes it clear this is not what we are intended to feel with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Slaves don't have a choice in how they spend their time. Slaves do not have the room to make their own choices. Christianity is not about being a slave to a religion or of God. As children of God, we are not designed to be held captive by our fears. Fear is of our human nature, but joined with the Spirit, we become more comfortable and peace filled. We have the choice to walk with God. We have the choice to allow Him into our lives and welcome transformation.
God is perfect love. God is understanding. God is strength. God is grace. God is mercy. God is wisdom. God is acceptance. God is redeeming. When we receive God's Spirit, we receive these characteristics of God. As a wealthy father leaves his children with his riches so does our Heavenly Father leave us with all of His. Along the way, he teaches us how to properly inherit and practice them so we do not waste or take them for granted. He prepares us for eternity with Him.
I like how the NLT uses the word affirm in verse 16. In the scary, fast passed, confusing and lost world affirmation from the Spirit is comforting to me. Not just for me, but also family and friends. It is comforting to know people like my grandparents are children of God through health scares. It is comforting to know friends I lose touch with are children of God. It is comfort to know my children are God's children in the moments they are away from me. Despite my capabilities to control health or dangers in the world, I know they have accepted God's gift of Jesus Christ. No matter what happens here on this earth, they are going to live in God's presence. Forever! This is a comfort no person on this earth can give any of us.
When things seem to be going well, we tend to skim over the word suffering when we read the Bible. When we are in the midst of suffering the word seems to be bold and ALL CAPS. It hits us right in the gut immediately felt in the heart. I think to better understand this verse, we need to think about our earthly relationships. We also need to understand God does not bring suffering into our lives. God and suffering are not a package deal. Suffering is however the result of our broken world and free will. We live in a world full of suffering because Satan is in control. 1 John 5:19 says, "We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one." When we stop playing the blame game and pointing our finger of suffering to God, we can grow a deeper relationship with Christ and better understand our suffering to not be frozen in the pain in brings.
Relating our relationship with God to our closest and most healthy relationship on earth can help us understand verses of scripture like verse 17. Think about your very best person. The person does not create suffering in your life. Your person probably does what they can to prevent it in your life. But the suffering still comes. Your person does everything in their power to love you through it. To hold your hand, dry your tears, build you up and help in any way they can, but we have to be intentional to pick up the phone and talk with God about our suffering just as we would with our person. And let's not confuse suffering with struggle. Our person can create struggle in our life because of the human nature living inside us all. Walking with Christ can even bring struggle as our spirit becomes one with His Spirit because it makes us step out of our comfort zone and seems foreign to us. No suffering or struggle changes the love and acceptance God has for us. We are the ones who put up walls and barriers to not fully accept Him. Or perhaps our pain controls our emotions and we grow comfortable in our fear preventing joy from coming in. No matter the reason, this scripture reminds us we are children of God. We will indeed endure suffering. Despite the pain and anguish the suffering brings as children of God, we will be heirs to His Kingdom. We can't even begin to imagine what lies ahead in our inheritance. Things we have not even thought of because our minds are too simple to fully understand all He has to offer us.
It is not even close to easy sometimes. We have to be intentional to take verses like Ephesians 6:11 and Proverbs 3:5-6 to live the very best Christian life possible. Always loving with joy and thanksgiving to share in His glory.
Lord, we thank you for always walking before us and never forsaking us. We pray, Father that you would help us to stay more level headed and clear on your path to walk confidently as your child. And may we talk about you so richly that others would want to be your child as well. We pray we would not turn our back on you through our suffering. We thank you for your son Jesus and we pray these things in His great name. Amen.
Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
-Ephesians 6:11
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
-Proverbs 3:5-6
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