Sunday 23 Jul 2023

July 23: Romans 8:12-15

Key Verse: Romans 8:15
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

Devotion:
I wonder if you are like me and see the different societies in the bible through the Gospels and Letters of the New Testament. I know the name “New Testament” may be modern in terms of the age of the Bible, but we can draw parallels with many modern societies because people may all different but we have roots in the people described in our Bibles.

The Romans needed someone to give them some stern words because they were living under the law of the Romans Empire. They had clear definitions of many things and so the Apostle needed to reach them through said ways of life linking them to what Jesus wanted them to hear. They knew all too well what slaves were, and like many places around the world, slaves are not treated as normal human beings but rather a something lower than normal people; I am so glad slavery has been abolished in most of the world!

We may talk of ourselves as being slaves to Christ, but this is not the same as the ‘sub normal’ position slaves had back then. The apostle wanted them to know the difference between the word they used for slave and the way we look at ourselves as being slaves to Christ. I think the gist of the difference being described here is slaves for Romans were the lowest of the low, yet we look at it as being ‘willing participants’ because we feel like we are children of God instead of ‘unwilling slaves!’

If we were unwilling slaves we certainly would not call out to God as Father (Abba Father) and would not want to do the things He asks of us. That is another difference because God is asking things of us and not demanding we do things. We have been given free choice and God sticks to supporting that free choice. Our choices will govern our relationship with Him!

Points to Ponder:
Are you a willing child of God?

Are you willing to listen to your Heavenly Father?