This week we will focus on Romans 8:22-25
Here is a link to last week’s series, A Light for My Path.
I hope you have not become discouraged by the challenges of scripture memory.
God’s Word is a treasure, and memorizing verses is a way to intentionally slow down and absorb every line and precept.
Paul’s writing can seem cumbersome if we are hurried and distracted. But look closely. You will find that God wants to reveal so much to us. He gave us His Word for knowledge and to grow.
The first part of our passage this week is easy.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Romans 8:22
Just because we are redeemed does not mean we are going to escape illness, catastrophic loss, or persecution. I bet we can all relate to that simple truth.
Firstfruits of the Spirit
Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:23
When you were redeemed, you were set apart from the world. Now you live by the Spirit according to the gift of God’s grace. This is the firstfruits. There is more to come!
You are not a slave to sin, but you still live in a sinful world subject to temptation and suffering. But the firstfruits of the Spirit mean that we are helped in our striving and struggling.
We are becoming more like Jesus. Doesn’t this make you think of passages that reveal the attributes of the Spirit of God, like the fruit of the Spirit—Galatians 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control)?
You are groaning with eager anticipation to be set free forever from this world and realize the full measure of the joy of your redemption.
So for now, we live in the firstfruits of the Spirit.
Guarantee of the Promise
But when we go to Heaven, we will realize the fullness of the guarantee that we have received from God. Now, this is an actual guarantee. So let me get you to either click on the link below or open your Bible. Treasure this guarantee. You can count on it.
Defining hope
For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Romans 8:24-25
The passage above makes no sense unless you belong to Jesus. That’s because for a believer the definition of the word hope is different from the world’s meaning.
Hope to a believer is not something wished for. It is a promise kept. Once this hope is received, it can never be lost.
Share the Good News in your world!
Isaiah 52:7
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Getting the Seed out of the basket and into hungry hearts. Matthew 13 