Where do you get stuck in your walk with Christ?
Romans 8:12-17
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 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. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
There is so much in these verses… I have to remember that I’m not trying to give you an in depth study of this chapter. That’s always a good thing to do, but it’s not my role here.
My role is to help you get unstuck in your faith.
Why do we get stuck and what does Romans 8 have to do with it?
Sometimes we’re stuck because we’re really not “in Christ” to begin with.
This came up in last week’s verses. Have you grown up in the church and in a believing home but never really made the decision to make the faith your own? Have you understood following Jesus to mean simply going to church on Sunday and going on with your life your own way for the rest of the week? You might be stuck because you haven’t actually begun the journey. Take a look here to see what it means to be in Christ.
Sometimes we’re stuck because we haven’t embraced following Jesus in every aspect of life.
(Some would say that a person in that situation isn’t in Christ at all. That very well may be true, but for sake of clarity, I’m making it separate here.)
What does living as a Christian look like? Do we accept Jesus as Savior and then go on our merry way, living just as we did before? Is it saying a prayer as “fire insurance” so that we can go to heaven but it has little or no impact on how we live our life today?
I don’t see any of that supported in Scripture. If we truly believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sin, then that has to change things.
In the verses we looked at last week, Paul said that God “sent His only Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (8:3b-4)
There is a battle going on between the flesh and the Spirit. Verse 12 says that we have an obligation not to live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
As I said last week, no one expects you to be perfect. We’re all on a journey of becoming more like Jesus. Just ask yourself if that’s the journey you’re truly on.
Journal: Is it your desire to become more like Him? To live the way He showed us how to live and to obey Him in every aspect of your life? Be honest with yourself and with God.
Sometimes we’re stuck because we’re allowing ourselves to be slaves again to fear.
Verse 15 says that the Spirit does not make us slaves again to fear, but rather that we are God’s children.
Journal: What fear were you a slave to that you aren’t any more? Which fears do you still struggle with? How does knowing that you are God’s child set you free from fear? What does it mean to you that you are God’s child? How is that significant in your daily life?
Sometimes we’re stuck because our view of God as our Father gets confused with the failings of our earthly father.
God being our “Daddy” (which is what “Abba” means) may have different meaning for us, depending on the earthly father we grew up with. In general, our default understanding of God’s character is wrapped up in what our earthly father is/was like. Even the most
Journal: Take some time and reflect on your earthly father. How would you describe him? What were/are his strengths and weaknesses? What messages, both spoken and unspoken, did you hear from him about your value and the nature of your relationship with him? How do those things compare to what you know of God and His character?
Do one of these resonate with you? I’d love to hear about it.
If you’d like tips for memorizing Bible verses, you can find them here.
You can read other perspectives on these verses on the following blogs: