The Antebellum period of southern American history has always intrigued me. However the idyllic utopia of plantations and southern charm is riddled with the rot of slavery. Among the numerous injustices and abuses, masters and other white males in authority sexually exploited slave women. Women often bore children from these unions and their mixed race children joined their mothers as slaves. These men faced no consequences for the sexual abuse of their slaves and they enslaved their own sons and daughters. This is absolutely unthinkable! Yet in this broken, depraved world, a child called his father “master” and was denied the status and love of sonship.
Praise be to God, this is not our fate with our heavenly Father!
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, Romans 8:15-16
After teaching us that it is only through the power of the Spirit that we can kill our sin and find life (Romans 8:12-13), Paul roots us in our identity in Christ. This identity affects everything else in our lives, the way that we look at God, ourselves, and the world. Paul lays out these astounding truths:
- We are no longer slaves. Our debts were paid (Romans 8:12) and our chains were loosed. If we are in Christ we are free from slavery to sin!
- We’ve been adopted into God’s family. He didn’t have to adopt us. He could’ve saved us and left it there. However he chose to make us part of his family, giving us all the gifts, blessings, and inheritance of sonship, fellow heirs with Christ!
- We can address him personally. This special relationship gives us access to God. A child scampers up into his father’s lap, fearless. Likewise, we don’t need rituals and special ceremonies to speak to the God of the universe. When we are in Christ, we have full and complete access through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Praise God! What a wonderful truth to face this broken world with. We are children of God, come what may.
Then Paul adds an uncomfortable condition.
…provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:17-18
It’s easy to talk about the blessings of our walk with Christ, but we miss crucial truths when we don’t soak in every piece of his counsel. Paul says that as children of God, we are heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him.
Often we skim over this verse because it makes us uncomfortable. We don’t like the fact that suffering is part of the Christian life. We want ease. We want comfort. But we are not made for these things! We are made to display the breathtaking glory of God that shines through the darkest of suffering. Paul reminds us that any suffering we may face this side of eternity cannot compare to the glory that awaits us with God. All this toil, heartache, and tears, will melt away in the dazzling, glorious light of God when we see him face to face.
Sisters, suffering will come in this life. Don’t be afraid of it. Embrace the perfect counsel and sufficient promises of God and trusty that the same One who raised Christ from the grave is with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).
Kristi P. Powell 