Monday Devotional: May 20, 2024

Bible Reading: Romans 8:14-17 (CEB)

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.

There is a striking intimacy in the language Paul uses to describe our relationship with God in this passage. Like a toddler running to greet his mother at the door, Paul imagines humanity reaching out to God, yearning to be embraced, cared for, and loved,

Human families are imperfect and complex, of course, but they provide an apt metaphor here. Families at their best—whether biologically formed or created by choice in any number of ways—create safe places where we are loved unconditionally, from which we can launch out into the world. Families provide us with a shared set of values that guide and sustain our lives.

So too our faith families. We are children of God, Paul tells us, with a multitude of ancestors carrying on our tradition and handing it down to us.

From our human family, we inherit curly hair, a tendency for bad jokes, and a set of chipped china stored in the attic. From our ancestors in the faith, we inherit the stories of God’s people, recorded in Scripture, and told throughout the ages. We inherit the peace that passes understanding, a love that knows no end, and a grace that knows no bounds. We learn from our ancestors, ancient and modern, a way of looking at the world, of living in the world that expresses our hope and our trust.

Time passes and heirs eventually turn into descendants, which ought to make us wonder what we are passing on. What will our children inherit from us? Will we tell of the grace we’ve received? Will we assure them of an unbelievable hope? Will we pass on the promise that was passed on to us?

We are children of God, joined heirs with Christ, loved and accepted, and welcomed home.

Prayer

Everlasting God, we take our place in your family with gratitude for those who have gone before us, teaching us of your love. Amen.

By Lee Hull Moses, The Upper Room Disciplines 2015, page 161.

Bible Study

Becoming “Anew”

Bible Readings: Psalm 29:1-11, Romans 8:12-17

ZOOM Session

Monday, May 20, 2024, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
For Zoom Link, send email to [email protected]