Reflecting on Romans 8:18-21
“For I consider that the sufferings of the this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the son of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from the bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
While on “Holiday” these last two weeks, I found that my friends had had hard times. My dear friend in Oregon son had lost his job of long standing, My friends in Washington mother was undergoing a renewed chemo treatment and also had job loss and my other friend in Washington was starting to suffer from tremors and would soon be unable to travel about. Yet all these people were being strong, trusting in the hands of God to preserve them in their hard times.
Two suffered from the hands of corruption of the economy and two from the corruption of health. While Paul’s letter was dealing with the corruption of the flesh (sin), his verse can also be applied to these other corruptions. So, while I added these people and their needs to mine, I found hope in the verses that give us hope in the creator that his creation of man was to be in glory as children of God.
We all long for the freedom from the snares of the world; hunger, sickness, greed and poverty. We seek to be in a better place, free from the fears that drive us down each day. And we find promise in the faith of God’s promise to redeem us, not only in the spirit, but also in the flesh. Jesus came from heaven so that we should be able to see with our own eyes that the flesh can be made pure and whole.
Among my favorite people of the Gospels are the man born blind (John 9) and the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15) whose faith in God overcame the pain in their lives. The blind man did not ask for healing but was given it so that he could defend Jesus before the priests of the temple, and the Canaanite woman demanded the right of the “scraps” that the children of God cast aside. As we struggle with the hardships that world puts before us we too can accepted what God freely gives and find praise in our suffering and our healing. We can ask for scraps because, even in our unworthiness, God desires to see to our needs.
I thank God for my friends whose faith in God’s mercy and grace is strong and willing to wait upon His will. Each of these wonderful people belong to different walks in Faith, belonging to different churches, but they all have one thing in common; they believe in God’s will and love and that is enough to get by each day of their lives.
So when live throws stones at you, remember that it is in God’s plan that you should have the freedom of being the children of the Father and be free from corruption of every sort, whether it be of the flesh, mind or spirit. In the next world, the new earth, we will be free and perfected in God.
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