Waiting Anxiously, Patiently, and Confidently

My thoughts on yesterday's verse consumed my day. Such wonderful verse to take in and meditate on. With each day comes a renewed hope in God, His plan of coming glory, and my freedom from sin. With each day there is a smile on my face because of Him.

Romans 8:23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as children, including the new bodies He has promised us.

The concept of creation in the pains of childbirth I have known for a long time now. Never, never never, have I thought of the Christian life in the same way. But it makes sense, we groan as creation groans, we wait as creation waits. On that day we will have our full rights as children, heirs to the throne. Crowns will adorn our head and we will place them at the feet of god because we are not worthy of such a crown. We will have new bodies, free of pain, sickness, acne, bad breath (and our teeth will ALWAYS be white!!) We will be made perfect in the light of Christ. How can you NOT look forward to that =)

Romans 8:24 Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom, for if you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it.

Freedom from sin, what a day that will be. We can love, follow, and obey God without any internal battle at all. No lying, cheating, pride, jealously. God tells us that there will be no hurt in heaven, freedom from sin is why that is true. We hurt ourselves and others because of our sin. But we are not free from sin now. Becoming a Christian isn’t a magical way of becoming free from sin, we are free from the condemnation. Christians aren’t perfect, far, far from it, but we need to hope for the day when we will be. We put our hope in Christ Jesus, for without Him we would not have this coming freedom! Praise Him!

Romans 8:25 But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.

This verse spoke deep into my heart of hearts, but on a different issue. God put in my heart years ago the desire to be a wife and mother. I prayed for years for direction in my life. College and I weren’t getting along, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. It was then that this desire was laid on me. Sure I’ll probably have a job and maybe get some kind of degree. But my first and foremost desire is to be a wife who loves her husband like the church and to raise a new generation up in Christ. For this I must wait patiently and confidently.

BUT on to the meaning of the verse described in it’s context. We don’t have that freedom from sin yet. We hope and look forward to that day. We must wait patiently and confidently. We will suffer, we will endure pain and hardship, we will get hurt and in all of that we must look forward and wait. In the first century, under Nero, Christians died right and left. Crosses, eaten by lions, stoned yet they look forward to the coming glory with confidence. Christians all over the world meet in secret for fear of what their government or fellow citizen may do. They do so because they look forward to the coming freedom with patience and confidence. They have the Holy Spirit to remind them of coming glory, the same Spirit that lives in you and I. What an amazing God we serve!