On my blog I encourage Christians and show unbelievers what, in my experience, living the Christian life is really all about. Today I am going to let God’s word do that better than I ever have by sharing passages from the eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Roman (NLT).
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end of sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so the just requirement of the law would be satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”
“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you have received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him ‘Abba Father.’ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 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 share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”
“And I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love. Neither death or life, neither angels or demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”