Daily Devotion, May 31, 2023

 

Devotion:

Read Romans 8:1-17.

Before I highlight specific verses, it is helpful to remember that Paul is writing this as a letter (without chapters or verses) to the beloved people of the church in Rome. There is a more natural flow to this writing, if we will read it as a letter which we might receive from someone who cares deeply for us to have the GIFT OF LIFE from God’s Spirit offered to us through Christ.

The transitional question and sentences are found in Romans 7:24-25, “Who will help me to escape the bondage and power of sin in my life? “Thanks be to God for our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Here in Chapter 8, Paul transitions the focus from the bondage of human sin to the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. The word “Spirit” hasn’t been mentioned since Romans 1:4. Now in Romans 8, the Spirit is referred to twenty-one times! Paul wants to make perfectly clear that God’s gift is the transforming and life-giving power of the Holy Spirit! This gift is from God’s own initiative, in sending Christ, to be the “sin-offering”. Therefore, those who are in Christ no longer live under the condemnation of sin.

Verses 5-8 compare the pathways of life from the mind set on the sinful nature which leads to death, versus the pathways of the mind set on what the Spirit desires, which leads to life!

Verses 9-11 declare that if we belong to Christ, the Spirit lives within us, and will give us the powerful gift of life! This is the gift of life both in the present tense and the future tense! We are alive through the righteousness of Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit! (This is a power beyond what we can imagine!)

Verses 12-17 teach us the lesson that we have an obligation to live according to this tremendous gift of the Spirit of God. This Spirit does not make us a slave to fear, but it makes possible the relationship with God such that “we can cry, Abba, Father and realize we are children, heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ, called to share in the sufferings so that we may also share in his glory.” This word-phrase, “Abba-Father” is the more intimate familial language as Mark 14:36 records Jesus from his prayer in Gethsemane.

Personal Worship Option:

Read this passage again from The Message. Romans 8:1-17. Thanks be to God for our Lord Jesus Christ, and the GIFT OF LIFE and the leading of God’s Holy Spirit to your next adventure!