12-14So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
-The Message
THIS IS SO GOOD!
God is so amazing. He continues to blow me away! And once again, reading it from The Message seems to only heighten what is being said for my puny ears to follow along. I love it I love it I love it.
Absolutely nothing can separate us from God's love. That's so good to continue to remind ourselves of. I know while I was away from the church, away from God, I felt so distant from him. I truly believed that "he had left me because I'm this horrible person and he is mad at me for what I've done and he wants nothing to do with me unless I'm willing to come back to him." And not a single word of that is true! He told me, once I had come back, that not only did he miss me, but he was so happy to have me back and he also said that NOTHING... I have done... has brought me too far from him. He still welcomed me back with loving arms wrapped tightly around me. And that's what's so wonderful. NOTHING... ANY OF US could do... would bring us too far from his love. He never left me. When I accepted him into my life ten years ago, he took it very seriously, he honored it, even if I hadn't. Even if I didn't know exactly what it all meant- he honored it. He never left. Yes, it's true that God and the enemy can not dwell in the same place, but he was continuously calling me back to him, whispering in my ear to steal me away, have me come and dance with him.
It's kind of like that scene in Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's having this grand party of the Capulet house, with all these beautiful people and costumes and it's so extravagant and wonderful, but she's just... miserable. She's not having fun like she's "supposed to be". And here comes Romeo. He wasn't supposed to be there. He was a Montague. Capulets' sworn enemy was the Montagues'. But he was in love with her, so he went against the rules and snuck in and called her away so they could have a moment together. Her moment of happiness.
Cheesie love story, I hear you. But in all honesty... that's an amazing comparison to what my life was like. Sure, I was living a life that most would call "normal" or "extravagant" but I wasn't happy. I knew what I was doing was wrong, I just chose to ignore it. Do not downplay the potential of reasoning. Reasoning only leads to deception. And that's exactly where I lived for so long. It says in the scripture to RUN from temptation... Now I fully understand why... Running involves every muscle in your body to absolutely flee the scene. Flee the circumstance. Flee the temptation. If you merely offer a lazy turn of your heel, you allow yourself time to second guess yourself- to REASON with yourself... And that's never a good thing.
Jesus,
Thank you that you are so alive and living in me. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for calling me by name to be yours and yours alone. You are amazing. Holy Spirit, I ask that you be with me today, I invite you into my every little detail of life today. You know what I'll face today, even if I don't. I ask that you prepare me spiritually, that you continue to speak to me, continue to call me away to have moments with you alone. Stretch my heart, make it bigger, Jesus. I want to love more. You impress me. You amaze me. You strengthen me. You belong to me and I belong to you. Shulukt.
amen.
-Photography still from "Romeo and Juliet" the film.
-Photography still from "Romeo and Juliet" the film.
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