Romans: A 30 Day Visitنموونە

Have you ever felt or been condemned? What was that situation?

What happened?

What was the hardest part?

The experience of condemnation and the shame it brings is a universal human experience. Think back to the Garden after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit; the emotion shared is shame. They felt shame and hid from God.

We all fear condemnation, that look of disappointment or disgust from the person across from us.

Paul boldly proclaims in verse 1 that there is NO condemnation for those "in Christ Jesus". Ephesians 1 (another of Paul's letters) gives clarity to the phrase "in Christ Jesus when it says in verses 13-14, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory."

As we join God's family by asking Jesus to pay for our sins and be our substitute, we are gifted the Holy Spirit, who seals us.

For those of us raised with condemnation daily, it is hard to comprehend what life looks like without it.

But the fact remains that once we are "in Christ", there is NO condemnation.

Paul ends this section explaining that because we are adopted, called sons and daughters, co-heirs with Jesus, able to call a holy God "father"- because of all these things- we have an obligation to live in ways that are consistent with the Spirit's leading.

In what ways have you experienced the Spirit's leading?

Are you willing to be led?