Dearest e-votees,
We have been chosen by God to be adopted into God's family.
We are children of God.
God's perfect love drives out any need for fear on our part.
Thanks be to God.
Peace,
Karl
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14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17, NRSV
"We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves..." On our own, without God's saving work and without the indwelling Holy Spirit we are ensnared by sin. Struggling in our own power against sin, death and the devil is like fighting quicksand--we only get more deeply buried. If we are our only hope than we are surely doomed.
But Jesus comes into the world to rescue us. Jesus comes in to show us the Father. Jesus comes to bring us into the divine community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sent to us to fill and inspire us, to comfort and cajole us and to remind and lead us. As the Holy Spirit leads us we are reminded that God has made us God's children. As we experience the indwelling love of God in the form of the Holy Spirit the spirit of slavery and fear yield to the spirit of freedom and joy. God has chosen us to be God's own. The Holy Spirit continues to testify with our spirit that we are indeed in God's family.
In a world that strives for individual freedom and choice we do well to remember that we will choose poorly when given the choice. We seek our own "good" at the expense of others and at the expense of right relationship with God. Jesus came into the world and took on the nature of a slave. He chose well seeking our good at the expense of himself and his own right relationship with God. God chose us and sent God's Son into the world to save us. God Jesus chose us and died on the cross for us. God Spirit chose us as a place to dwell and lives in us to remind us and stir us to faith.
Jesus says it this way in John 15:16:
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for calling us. Thank you for saving us. Help us to bear fruit that will last all to your glory. Amen.
We have been chosen by God to be adopted into God's family.
We are children of God.
God's perfect love drives out any need for fear on our part.
Thanks be to God.
Peace,
Karl
------------
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
"We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves..." On our own, without God's saving work and without the indwelling Holy Spirit we are ensnared by sin. Struggling in our own power against sin, death and the devil is like fighting quicksand--we only get more deeply buried. If we are our only hope than we are surely doomed.
But Jesus comes into the world to rescue us. Jesus comes in to show us the Father. Jesus comes to bring us into the divine community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sent to us to fill and inspire us, to comfort and cajole us and to remind and lead us. As the Holy Spirit leads us we are reminded that God has made us God's children. As we experience the indwelling love of God in the form of the Holy Spirit the spirit of slavery and fear yield to the spirit of freedom and joy. God has chosen us to be God's own. The Holy Spirit continues to testify with our spirit that we are indeed in God's family.
In a world that strives for individual freedom and choice we do well to remember that we will choose poorly when given the choice. We seek our own "good" at the expense of others and at the expense of right relationship with God. Jesus came into the world and took on the nature of a slave. He chose well seeking our good at the expense of himself and his own right relationship with God. God chose us and sent God's Son into the world to save us. God Jesus chose us and died on the cross for us. God Spirit chose us as a place to dwell and lives in us to remind us and stir us to faith.
Jesus says it this way in John 15:16:
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for calling us. Thank you for saving us. Help us to bear fruit that will last all to your glory. Amen.
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