Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
June 1, 2024
Romans 8:12-18
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it isn’t an obligation to ourselves to live our lives on the basis of selfishness. 13 If you live on the basis of selfishness, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the actions of the body, you will live. 14 All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons and daughters. 15 You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. 17 But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him. 18 I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us.
Good Morning! We are God’s children!
The idea of being heirs to Christ is a very powerful image. One of my earliest remembrances of reading the Bible was how many words were used to establish the lineage of the people named. My parents both came from small families, so keeping track of everyone was fairly simple. When I married Lowell, I was suddenly in the midst of much larger families. It took time to figure out all of the relationships between those who belonged to whom.
When most people typically lived their whole lives in a general area, extended family members often crossed paths, and relationships were readily seen. As travel and moving about became more feasible, families began to be stretched from the boundaries that had enclosed them for generations.
As families spread across different continents, family ties became hard to trace. Just as our country became a melting pot of diverse cultures, so our families became blended as well. It is important to continue family traditions no matter how much distance separates us because these are the things that remind us who we are and from whom we came.
Our Christian rituals connect generations of believers who are members of the one body of Christ. As heirs, we must maintain our lineage across the miles that separate us. When we celebrate Holy Communion, sing the songs of old, and pray the prayer that Christ taught us to pray, these are the threads that bind us together.
We are called to be the face of Christ for the world. How do we do this? They will know we are Christians by our love! Just like people might say, there goes one of those Petry boys; they should look at us and say, there goes an heir of Christ.
Encouraging God, Thank you for this beautiful gift of life. Sometimes, we just want to blend in and be a nobody, but our calling is to be the face of Christ in the world. Help us accept and embrace our calling. We thank you! In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: Do others recognize us as children of God?
Boldly share Christ with the world! Pastor Liz
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