Magnificent Liberty

Take a deep breath, approach this text without your foreknowledge of what it says, and simply enjoy the goodness of Roman 8's midsection:

The Spirit himself endorses our inward conviction that we really are the children of God. Think what that means. If we are his children we share his treasures, and all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well! Yes, if we share in his suffering we shall certainly share in his glory.

In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. The world of creation cannot as yet see reality, not because it chooses to be blind, but because in God’s purpose it has been so limited—yet it has been given hope. And the hope is that in the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay, and have its share in that magnificent liberty which can only belong to the children of God!

And now let's put it into words that draw it into our own hearts:

The Spirit himself should be so steadily listened-to and observable in our spirits that we know we really are the children of God. We must know what that means. Since we are his children, we can readily share his treasures today, and all that Christ claims as his now belongs to all of us as well! Yes, as we share in his sufferings (counting it as all joy!) we are certainly sharing in his glory too.

Whatever we have to go through now is literally less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. The whole creation - including the lost people around you - are on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. The world of creation - including the lost people around you - cannot as yet see reality, not because they choose to be blind, but because in God's purpose they have been so limited - yet they have given hope. And the hope is that in the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay, and have its share in that magnificent liberty - the liberty you are blessed to be enjoying today - which can only belong to the children of God!

Oh, may it be so! May it be so in us today!