October 11, 2022 - Romans 8:17
“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 his glory, we must also share his suffering.” Romans 8:17 NLT
Lord, what a beautiful declaration that you have made over us in this verse. When we accepted your gift of salvation, we became your children. You claim us as your own – a part of you. We become heirs. We walk in the authority that comes with being a child of the king. We have your glory as our inheritance. What an amazing gift. We are so unworthy, yet you love and bless us as your own children. Lord, we are so amazed at your love and goodness.
Lord, it is wonderful to focus on the first part of this verse yet want to ignore the second part. Being your followers doesn’t mean that everything will go perfect for us. You tell us that we will actually share in your suffering in order to share your glory. We thank you that we never suffer alone. Jesus, our suffering is shared with you. We praise you that whatever we face you walk through it with us.
Jesus, we also know that you died for our sins once and for all. You are not saying that we must share in that act. But I think it is being willing to lay down our life for the sake of the Gospel. Being willing to put your desires above our own. Being willing to suffer if needed to walk in obedience to all you ask of us. Being willing to put others before ourselves, even if it costs us. Other times it will be facing trials and pressing through them with you instead of running from them. We want to allow you to use our trials to mold us until we look more like you. We want to let you turn up the heat in our lives to bring to the surface and remove the impurities that don’t reflect you. We want to be willing to walk through suffering if it is what will bring you the most glory.
In Jesus name, amen.
