Monday, December 6, 2021
For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers
also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of
future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.
We, too, wait with eager hope for the
day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted
children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We
were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need
to hope for it. But if we look forward to something
we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) Romans 8:22-25
When your body is in pain, that pain can radiate to your mind, spirit,
and soul. That is true of all humans –
and so is the inverse. When your soul
has joy and hope, it will radiate to the body.
You are probably familiar with the children’s ditty: If you’re happy and you know it, clap
your hands, stamp your feet, tell your face. (That last part isn’t in the kid’s song; I added
it to make this point…let the joy inside you tell your body, so your body can radiate
joy outside you.)
The Apostle Paul was making a similar, but seemingly contradictory point
– not nature’s way, but a spiritually-sound principle of Christian doctrine and
eternal truth. That truth is: although our bodies (bones) ache for
release from the deadness of sin – that alienation from our Creator – the hope
that resides in our inner being (heart) is so steeped in the confidence of hope
(in Christ), the ache and hope pump together like systolic and diastolic
measurements…they pump life into despair, joy into darkness, and out comes lightness
to the soul. The hope of
Christ’s glory within our being counteracts anything Satan throws at us.
It’s no secret that some of us wear our feelings on our shirtsleeve; those
folks make terrible poker players…couldn’t bluff their way out of a paper
bag. Then there are those who hide it
like a master. They stuff everything,
good or bad, deep-down into compartments where they never have to meet with
each other. It’s a protection device
humans develop to avoid pain. It isn’t a
new thing that Freud or Jung discovered; it is so old we read about it in the
opening pages of Scripture. Adam and Eve
messed up, and God confronted them. They
both tried to shift responsibility to anywhere but owning it. The result was the motherlode
of dysfunction. Their children picked-up
on this and took it to the next level when Cain killed his brother Abel. We do anything to avoid facing the pain
caused by our own actions. That’s why
Paul wrote that we ache (literally agonize) for the day when we will be
released from all that internal conflict and pain.
As in all of nature, a need presupposes something to meet that need. A void has air to rush-in, like opening a sealed
can of nuts…pssss! Thirst presupposes
there is water to quench the need. And
the ache in your inner, conflicted being which is caused by the separation you
feel from your Creator (a result of that first step away from God’s will)
presupposes the existence of salvation – God’s forgiveness and restoration
(which are truly one and the same).
For You Today
Do your bones ache for release?
How about the heart…are you in-Christ, trusting His offer of grace and
forgiveness. Let those two realities out
of their hiding places; let them meet without fear. Let the Christ in you become all your spirit
needs to grow strong and radiant. Aching
bones and a hopeful heart are the ingredients to mix together for an overcoming
life.
[1] Title and Other Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For another post on this text see The Creation That Groans and Foretaste of Future Glory
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