Romans 8:14 – For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. (NLT) 

There is so much packed into these four verses, we could probably stay with this passage for a week!  So, just a couple of things I would like to share, you may have others.  First, in verse fifteen we are told that we have received God’s Spirit.  Really?  God’s?  God’s Spirit joins with ours?  I find this empowering and frightening all at the same time!  It’s empowering in that we should look to God’s Spirit for the strength to be who and what God calls us to be.  I find it potentially frightening for the very same reason. So my prayer is often that I would not be a fearful slave, but rather one with a bold spirit from my Abba, Father.

The second thing I take away from this passage is that we are heirs of God’s glory along with Jesus!  What an awesome thought, but then Paul goes on to say that we must also share in Jesus’ suffering.  Too often I would like to settle for the glory and forget the suffering.  Fortunately for most of us today, our suffering doesn’t compare to Jesus’.  However, we are called to action, and we are called to put the needs of others before our own. 

It doesn’t come close to Jesus’ suffering, but today let’s answer the call to be Christ-like to someone we would rather stay away from.  In our own small way, let us share in Jesus’ suffering and Jesus’ glory!  

Posted by Ramón Torres