Tuesday July 20, 2021

Lord, help me to pause, help me to focus, help me to receive your word in a way that makes an impact on my day. Amen.

Romans 8:18-30

Present Suffering and Future Glory

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Fact Check: As Christ followers what do you know with absolute certainty?  This I know:  God, in Jesus, is working in all things for the good of God’s children, even those who do not yet know they are God’s children. This is our hope.   The hope we’ve not seen in its fullness, but we know is coming.  We are sure that, in all things, God is working towards this end, not only for us but for all creation.

Fact Check:  The world, all creation, is broken.  The evidence is overwhelming.  We can see this in the climate:  floods, heat waves, and sea levels rising.  We see the brokenness in society: hatred, violence, inequity, homelessness and division.  Who can doubt the brokenness of our world when we hear and read of a six year old shot and killed in a road rage incident on his way to school?

However, our God is not idle.  God is working in all these things to create  the new Heaven and new Earth that He has promised.  Out of brokenness, wholeness is coming.  The evidence?  Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, the healing of our own brokenness, by God and the promise of God.

Where do you see God at work in your life and the world?  Has God worked through brokenness in your life?

Lord, we know you are at work for good. Grant us vision to see and patience to wait. In Jesus’ name, Amen.