Romans 8:9-17
Picture a scene in an attorney’s office. The children of a recently deceased father are gathered together for the reading of his will. Several sons and daughters are there, including an adopted child. What will the will reveal? Will they each receive an inheritance? Will one be overlooked, or one be more favored? In some families that may be the case. How about with God? In our Scripture passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans, we read about how, if we have accepted Christ as Savior, we are sons and heirs of God. But, are we each the same?
When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, our sins are forgiven and our soul is redeemed. At that time, we also become adopted into God’s family, becoming His sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit, which comes to dwell in our hearts at that time, gives us the assurance that we have been adopted into God’s family (vs. 14). Are adopted children treated the same as natural born? In many families that is so, but not always. How about in God’s family? What about when that will is read?
In Old Testament Jewish families, the firstborn son was always given at least half of everything, with the remainder being divided by the rest of the siblings, no matter how many children were in the family. If the firstborn was a daughter, she was skipped over to the firstborn son. Adopted children might or might not be included. However in Roman law, adoption gave them all full rights of the family. He became a full heir, equal to natural born children. In a Roman adoption the inheritance was equally divided, including with any adopted children. This was the type of adoption the Apostle Paul was referring to when he said that we are adopted into God’s family. We become full heirs with full privileges. We share in great treasures as co-heirs with Jesus (vs. 14-17). Imagine, all that Jesus has will be shared with us, as we are joint-heirs with Him! Not only that, but as God’s children we can come to Him without fear or hesitation. We can call God “daddy” or “papa” with tenderness and without fear or anxiety (vs. 15).
In addition to sharing the good news about our adoption into God’s family, Paul also shares with us about how the Holy Spirit lives in every person who has accepted Jesus as Savior (vs. 9-11). If there is no evidence of the Holy Spirit and His fruits in a life, there is no salvation (vs. 9). Who controls our life, who is its master? Jesus or our sinful nature? We need to let the power of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, take authority over our life. Let the sinful nature know that Jesus is Master, and it’s time for it to die.
The Holy Spirit provides us with the energy and power to be putting to death our sinful nature (vs. 13). Paul speaks in several of his letters of the need to regard as dead the power of sin in our life (Romans 6:11; Galatians 5:24). When we regard sin as dead in our life, we can more easily ignore temptations when they come. This is a process that is never completed in this life. The Holy Spirit accomplishes this through our faithful obedience to the commands of the Bible.
We cannot live the Christian life in our own strength. We can, though, through the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s grace enables us to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to put to death our sinful desires. When God’s Spirit indwells us, we are spiritually alive and can show forth true righteousness. As believers, we need to turn away from earthly pursuits, and sow into the Kingdom of God. Since we reap what we sow, we should sow what will please God and grow His Kingdom (Galatians 6:7-8).
God uses adversity to prune us, to refine us, to develop in us a Christ-like character (vs. 17). Don’t let adversity harden us to God and to resist His work in our life. View it as a positive thing that can prepare, equip, energize, and empower us as His children for the work He wishes to do through us. The things in our life that are hindrances and stumbling blocks need to be discarded. Let God transform our life to become more Christ-like.
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