Day 17 - Romans 8:17 …and
if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with
Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified
with him.
We are heirs with Christ. We are invited by the Father to be
children and heirs with Jesus, of everything the Good Father offers His
children. We inherit eternal life and salvation as heirs. What a blessed gift!
Just as God normally does, though, He offers us so much more. We are heirs of all He has and does. We inherit His
peace, we inherit His joy, His love, His gentleness. The fruits of the Spirit
flow from us as an heir and receiver of the inheritance- a free gift of God.
We are not like the prodigal son, however. Our relationship
with the Father stays complete through our brother and fellow heir, Christ
Jesus. We do not have a brother who scorns us, and our weaknesses. We have a
brother who strengthens and unites us in our relationship with the Father.
So when we suffer, we suffer together, as family, as one,
fully united. How many of us have family or loved ones who let us down, who
aren’t everything we need them to be at a given time? Even in our marriages and
homes our spouse and children will let us down. Because of this we often see
our relationships with God, even if only subconsciously, with the same
expectations. We wait for God to let us down, we even look for it and blame God
when life seems to spin out of control. But these verses speak truth- “we
suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.” We are in it together.
God is the perfect loving Father and Christ, the perfect loving brother. We are
united through Christ’s precious body and blood and life giving water.
Sometimes it’s helpful to know that someone is holding us up, there for
support, in the sorrow and the joy of life. God has sent you real people in
your life to show you His loving kindness and care. We can be that to one
another. The family then is that mirror of God’s perfect and holy family, for
others to see and then also know Him.
But even when the road is difficult and we feel intensely
alone, know that our Father and our Brother are with us. We never need take on
the day alone. We are family.
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| Missing our family in the Body of Christ in Haiti today. |