By Pastor Steve Nickodemus
Yearning for Freedom
You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.
“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
Romans 8:22 English Standard Version
We eagerly wait for spring. After a long winter we look for signs that there will be new life, that the promise of God that “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter… will not cease.” (Genesis 8:22 ESV) The cold of winter will give way to the warmth of spring and the flowering of trees and new life. We eagerly wait for that new life each spring!
In the same way, we eagerly await the coming of our Lord Jesus into this dark, sinful world. We want to be done with the corruption of this world with its sin and selfishness and isolation and pain. We want to be in the midst of our Lord Jesus and all believers forever. We want new bodies and new hearts and to be in God’s forever family.
The apostle Paul says that this is the same way that an expectant mother looks for the birth of her child. She groans in her pain of childbirth, but she looks forward to the new life that is coming. And so, we, and all creation, groan as we await the coming of Jesus. We eagerly await His coming and the end to sin and death and the struggle of our sinful nature within us.
And so, we pray, “Lord Jesus, come. Come quickly. Give us faith and endurance as we deal with the winter of this world. We trust in your promises. We eagerly await our final adoption into your forever family. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.”
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado
