We sat together, my good friend and I, enjoying the cool air (that a few weeks ago we considered hot!) after eating some yummy dinner. We talked about kids and marriage and life, and I said, "I just wish it would be consistently good. Why is it that we have days that are effortlessly great and days that really just take work? Scott and I can have a really great day, and then something happens the next day and it seems like we are having to work through a conflict. Wouldn't it be nice if it wasn't so hard?"
And then today, sitting outside reading the Word and listening to the birds call to each other, He reminded me that, yeah, it is hard, and by the way, He already said it was going to be.
Romans 8:15-17 "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, "Abba, Father." For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share in His glory, we must also share in His suffering."
The Study Bible says about these verses "Jesus is heir to all of God's promises, and as those who belong to Jesus, we share with Him in that glorious inheritance. However, just as it was for Jesus, our path to glory is also marked by suffering. We experience the difficulties that come from striving to live righteously in a world dominated by sin."
Life is hard because there is a real struggle in our souls between what we ought to do (living righteously) and what we want to do (the cravings of our sinful nature). God's original law, though good and right, only served to show the people what they were doing wrong. It didn't bring with it any means to stop doing the wrong. That's where Jesus came in. With His death and resurrection, we are given His Spirit, and the Spirit lives in us, enabling us to choose not to be slaves to our sinful nature and to walk righteously. By His grace and power, may I strive to have more and more days where I choose not my sinful nature, but His righteousness.
6 comments:
So thankful we have the Holy Spirit to help us choose righteousness daily. Indeed it is a daily struggle! I wonder myself why life has to be so hard! Seems like you get through one thing and another is just around the bend. Knowing He works it all together for His glory and my good keeps me going!
Thanks for linking up with WIP Wednesday!
Mary Beth
Not sure how long you've been married, but after 21 years it's still work. Thanks for this reminder from scripture. yhat's really the only place we can go for answers to the hard stuff of life. Hopping over from New Life Steward's link up today.
So very true! Reminds me of the verse "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." We want to do things right badly, but our flesh "takes over" sometimes. Something that we do have to fight daily. Thanks for sharing girly! Blessings!
Thank you for linking up btw too ;)
It is continuous conflict! Lovely post!
Thank you! Sometimes it seems like the trials we go through never end, but there is purpose in them all, whether we understand at the time or not :)
Post a Comment