Be Ruled by the Spirit
Romans 8
1So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty. 2Through Christ
Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free from the law that brings
sin and death. 3The law was without power, because the law was made weak by
our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to
earth with the same human life that others use for sin. By sending his Son to be
an offering to pay for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin. 4He did this so
that we could be the kind of people the law correctly wants us to be. Now we do
not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit.
5Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that
their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking
about the things the Spirit wants them to do. 6If people’s thinking is controlled by
the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there
is life and peace. 7When people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they
are against God, because they refuse to obey God’s law and really are not even
able to obey God’s law. 8Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot
please God.
9But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if
that Spirit of God really lives in you. But the person who does not have the Spirit
of Christ does not belong to Christ. 10Your body will always be dead because of
sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made
you right with God. 11God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God’s Spirit is
living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who
raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives in
you.
12So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves or live
the way our sinful selves want. 13If you use your lives to do the wrong things
your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to
stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.
14The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them. 15The
Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of
God. With that Spirit we cry out, “Father.” 16And the Spirit himself joins with
our spirits to say we are God’s children. 17If we are God’s children, we will
receive blessings from God together with Christ. But we must suffer as Christ
suffered so that we will have glory as Christ has glory.
Our Future Glory
18The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that
will be shown to us. 19Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God
to show his children’s glory completely. 20Everything God made was changed to
become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all
along there was this hope: 21that everything God made would be set free from
ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.
22We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like
a woman ready to give birth. 23Not only the world, but we also have been waiting
with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we
are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our
bodies will be made free. 24We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see
what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something
they already have. 25But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we
are waiting for it patiently.
26Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as
we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with
deep feelings that words cannot explain. 27God can see what is in people’s hearts.
And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God
for his people in the way God wants.
28We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him.
They are the people he called, because that was his plan. 29God knew them before
he made the world, and he decided that they would be like his Son so that Jesus
would be the firstborn of many brothers. 30God planned for them to be like his
Son; and those he planned to be like his Son, he also called; and those he called,
he also made right with him; and those he made right, he also glorified.
God’s Love in Christ Jesus
31So what should we say about this? If God is with us, no one can defeat us.
32He did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all. So with Jesus, God will
surely give us all things. 33Who can accuse the people God has chosen? No one,
because God is the One who makes them right. 34Who can say God’s people are
guilty? No one, because Christ Jesus died, but he was also raised from the dead,
and now he is on God’s right side, begging God for us. 35Can anything separate
us from the love Christ has for us? Can troubles or problems or sufferings or
hunger or nakedness or danger or violent death? 36As it is written in the
Scriptures:
“For you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.”
Psalm 44:22
37But in all these things we have full victory through God who showed his
love for us. 38Yes, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling
spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, 39nothing above us,
nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version
SITUATION
Although Christians still struggle with sin, the threat of judgment for their sin was removed at the Cross.
OBSERVATION
This great chapter begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
INSPIRATION
Why does a mother love her newborn? Because the baby is hers? Even more. Because the baby is her. Her blood. Her flesh. Her sinew and spine. Her hope. Her legacy. It bothers her not that the baby gives nothing. She knows a newborn is helpless, weak. She knows babies don't ask to come into this world.
And God knows we didn't either.
We are his idea. We are his.
His face. His eyes. His hands. His touch. We are him. Look deeply into the face of every human being on earth, and you will see his likeness. Though some appear to be distant relatives, they are not. God has no cousins, only children.
We are, incredibly, the body of Christ. And though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are his. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (see Romans 8:38-39).
Had God not said those words, I would be a fool to write them. But since he did, I'm a fool not to believe them. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ ... but how difficult it is for some to embrace this truth.
You think you've committed an act that places you outside his love. A treason. A betrayal. An aborted promise. You think he would love you more if you hadn't done it, right? You think he would love you more if you did more, right? You think if you were better his love would be deeper, right?
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. God's love is not human. His love is not normal. His love sees your sin and loves you still. Does he approve of your error? No. Do you need to repent? Yes. But do you repent for his sake or yours? Yours. His ego needs no apology. His love needs no bolstering.
And he could not love you more than he does right now. (From A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado)
APPLICATION
Do you sometimes feel that God can't really love you? If so, look at this chapter and commit it to memory. God is there whether you walk away from him or not. Thank God for his acceptance of you because it's based on the finished work of Christ and not on your own merit.
EXPLORATION
No Separation-John 10:27-29; 17:1-3; Romans 5:8-9; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
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