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12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 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. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:12-25 NIV Bible)
If I told you that Amazon was working with top doctors to make it possible to change a baby's delivery from nine months to next business day, you wouldn't be surprised. Why? Because that is the kind of generation we have become. I'm old enough to remember slow things. I didn't have a phone until I was about six years old, and by having a phone, I'm talking about one nailed to the wall with a cord that would limit our moving around to two feet. Television? We didn't have a set until I was about ten years old. And by television, I'm referring to an oval black and white picture on a tv that sat inside a wooden, yes, real wood, stand. Coffee took several minutes to prepare, as did real food. Yes, I'm old enough to remember tv-dinner being introduced! Doctors came in their black cars with huge doctor's bags and gave shots in the privacy of our own home! (Thanks a lot!). I remember being ecstatic about getting a letter in the mail, and that was when I was in college. "Texts" were folded up ripped out pages from our spiral notebook that had urgent messages that if the teacher intercepted them, we were dead! By the way, Amazon, as far as I know, is not working on such a delivery, but can it be far off?
Paul is talking about living in the moment, guided and blessed by God. HIs only urgency was to talk about Jesus, but he was keenly aware of those in his audience who were truly siuffering the wrath of both government and church. Yes, Paul's own church, the Jewish Church, was hitting him and his followers hard. The goverrnment also was not a fan of people not bowing down to Caesar and their displeasure involved Christians being killed. Paul's message was to "hang in there; don't give up!" In fact, Paul's message at first was, "Jesus is coming soon!" And as the years passed, he had to say, "Well, He is coming; when, I'm not too sure, but He is coming!" This passage was to stress that God was still in command, like Jesus had shared with him. He was a messenger of hope, and this passage is about hope. Yes, some of us are suffering, and unfairly so, but God will come and take us with Him; be patient, don't give up! Our task, Paul stresses, is to wait with hope for God to act.
Paul has outlined where we stand in our relationship with God; we are His children, and as children, heirs of all the good things that God has promised. Our obligation is to live in the Spirit, not in the flesh. The flesh is weak and weakness does not work well with patience. In fact, Paul writes, that sort of weakness leads to death; but the Spirit is stronger and it can grant us resurrection. The Spirit intercedes on our behalf and assures us that we are children, and we can cry out to God with the greeting heard even today in Israel and in Jewish households, "Abba, Father." It was such a joy to be in Jerusalem when we heard little ones holding their dad's hands saying, "Abba, Abba!" And it made me think of this passage.
Whatever it is that we are going through, we will be delivered from this momentary suffering into the eternal reward that is Glory. Sadly, we don't hear many sermons on Glory. Just today Nellie and I were talking about what the food must be like in Heaven. At first I thought only in spiritual terms and thought the delcious thing for us will be to be in the presence of God and I even said, "Will there be food involved?" And immediately corrected myself, "Yes, Jesus spoke of the great feast we will have once we are all together and whatever is served there, even if it is just bread and wine, will be delicious for we will be enjoying it with God and those who have gone before us to be in that celebration. Our work now is to get more people to get ready to join us as believers.
PRAYER: Loving God, bless us in our suffering with the gift of Your presence and peace and may it be translated into hope. Make us people of hope the kind we can share with others; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Be a person of hope to those who are suffering.
Receive my blessings of joy and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
