Labor Pains...Uuuggghhh!

 Probably don't need to keep mentioning it, but these blogs will make much more sense if you have read previous posts and will have the scripture open as you peruse it. So let's get into it...


Romans 8:35: So if Jesus love us with that amazing kind of super-love, then regardless of what happens we shouldn't be shaken! All the things that are listed here are the present suffering we must endure now before we partake in the glory. The only way to make it through life and the things that we inevitably will have to walk through is the hope of Jesus and being completely redeemed in the end (see 8:25). Don’t listen t your feelings about God in the midst of the suffering of life, they will give you false impressions and ideas of what is happening leading to erroneous conclusions on why things happen. This scripture seems to make it very clear that the reality is we should expect to encounter these sufferings because we live as a fallen people in a fallen creation. Good to know as well that Paul isn’t writing this from some luxury suite somewhere, but is writing from the still fresh memories and experiences with this brutal world (that will shortly kill him), and the truth that he clings to that enables him to go on.


Romans 8:36: This is a quote of Psalm 44:22. The psalm talks about the people walking faithfully with God, and the end result they expect from that of God doing big things like He had in the past like leading them out of Egypt. What the writer of the psalm struggles with is that even though he and others are being faithful, things are not going well for them! Indeed, many of the people are being killed for their faith, even by their faith because they are relying on God and not man. “I do not trust my bow, I do not count on my sword to save me, it is You who gives us victory over our enemies, it is You who humbles those who hate us.” Psalm 44:6-7. And that very faith is what they cannot comprehend. They believe that faith means God should move NOW to deliver them and they can’t understand why He won’t when they fell like they’ve been faithful. Listen to 44:23, “Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Get up! Do not reject us forever!” And this is 44:26, “Rise up! Come and help us! Save us because of your unfailing love.” Is this not what Paul is talking about in all of Romans 8? Creation is fallen and groaning for salvation and redemption, but for now we must suffer through and hope. Hope in the truth that while it does not look like it, Jesus has begun the redemption process that will one day restore us and all of creation. And He has done this because of His great love for us, and at great cost to Himself (the cross). So now, in this fallen creation, things are not as they appear. There is death, heartache and struggle…but only for a little while longer. And in the midst of all of this God’s love remains a constant, bringing us forgiveness and adoption instead of condemnation. So there’s only one conclusion to be reached…


Romans 8:37: Because of what Jesus did, the victory is ours. Sin has been defeated, death is simply a transition, eternity is secured, hope is realized, love is conquering. These terrible things we experience now, are like the labor pains before the birth. At the time very painful and all encompassing, yet quickly forgotten and pushed aside when new life comes from them (See 8:22). We’re in labor, waiting to be reborn so yes, the things we experience are painful and large, and it is easy to let them make us feel forsaken. And yes, those labor pains will last our entire lives (even though that isn’t even a blink of eternity), but not forever. These labor pains cannot, will not, are not separating us from Jesus’ love…which has already sealed our fate through the Holy Spirit. We are God’s children!

What love!

Ok, at this point can I say that I feel like I’ve never read Romans before? I’ve read it many times before, but the ENTIRE book seems like it is new to me. God is so good to speak and reveal Himself…what love! Enough of that though, got to get to the latest musings…


Romans 8:33-34: Selah…that’s Hebrew for “Stop, pause, meditate, let the enormity of what was just said sink in.” And after reading these verses, that is so what you have to do! Because the One with the right, the One who deserves to judge, condemn, forsake and destroy me has raised me up on the same level as His Son, so I am His son as well. And Jesus doesn’t forsake me, but is next to God pleading for my miserable soul. He loves me more than I think I’m worth. Me, the lustful, gluttonous, sluggard of a soul that He pleads for with His blood in front of the Father, our King.

What’s greater than love? What’s the word for the next level of love? Because whatever it is, that is what God is showing me. I obviously have no concept of love, because the love I see now is a pale reflection due to the fall. Jesus loves me. He thinks I’m worth pleading to the Judge for. God help me to accept this kind of love…because my mind wants to reject the notion that anyone would or could love me that way. And yet it is the truth! No wonder Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and it will set you free.” Wow. Makes me feel like Tom Cruise shouting, “I want the truth!” And God replies, “You can’t handle the truth, but it will save you anyway.” Brian Littrell puts it this way in his song “Over My Head”:

I’m in over my head, right where I want to be, lost in your love.

 Gotta tell you, it’s a pretty good place to be!

What A Day....Eventually.

And so Romans continues, as it seems like it always will!


Romans 8:31: So knowing we will suffer, because of the fall and all that is entailed with that, this verse is easier to understand (context helps!). We can know that in spite of all that happens and will happen, that God is still for us, and one day we will see creation finally redeemed and we will sit at Jesus’ side!

Romans 8:32: Christ suffered, we will as well. So take joy in the sufferings now, because they are proof of the other side of the coin. We suffer now, we partake in glory later. Often this seems like a bad deal now, because we hate suffering and really don’t know how to cope. But think, what if that is true with God’s glory as well? What if that glory we will share in is so ridiculously good that we won’t know how to cope with that? Makes my head hurt…in a good way. People who are “cutters” cut themselves so they’ll feel something. In some ways I think our suffering is like that, to remind us that we can feel things. We feel pain, loss, frustration NOW…but,

There is coming a day,
When no heart aches shall come,

No more clouds in the sky,

No more tears to dim the eye,

All is peace forever more,

On that happy golden shore,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

There'll be no sorrow there,

No more burdens to bear,

No more sickness, no pain,

No more parting over there;

And forever I will be,

With the One who died for me,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

And I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Context, context, context

I try and tell everyone all the time that Scripture must be read in context if it is going to be fully understood and applied to our lives, even though sometimes it is entertaining to pick texts at random to make them say whatever you wish (I think that is actually a prerequisite to be a televangelist). So it is with a goofy grin I admit that one of the verses we’re going to look at today I had always taken out of context, or maybe more appropriately never fully understood until I took it in its context. So without Further ado…

Romans 8:26 Let’s be honest, everyone loves this verse, and why not, it is such a good verse, a comforting verse. But it is so much more than that, it is emblematic of God’s love and character that this verse appears at all! By the way, to get the whole gist you may need to read all of ch 8 or my previous posts first…but anyway. Things suck now because of sin. All creation is suffering (and we are a part of that creation) and longing for the day of rebirth when things will be remade the way that they were originally designed by God to be. So all we have left is hope, the Holy Spirit (hereafter referred to as The Holy Ghost, The Paraclyete, The Force, HS) who knows us better than we know ourselves and intercedes on our behalf to God. Of course it is a common problem not knowing what to pray, but how much more so when you realize that because of the fall we are so different from God that our best prayers fall so short of the perfectness that God has in mind. Then throw in the current suffering we are going through, and we don’t have the words or at times even the thought to speak to God. Think about it, if we don’t know how wonderful it is supposed to be, how do we know what to ask for? Things are so jacked up from how they should be that the HS has to pray for us with “groans words cannot express.” Wow. That’s pretty crazy…makes me understand better and better why the church used to close with the words, “Come Lord Jesus, Come.”
Romans 8:27 So God knows and loves us so well because He made us, that when things are like they are and we cannot communicate, the HS translates our hearts into God language and whisper it into is ear. That’s amazing, especially when you consider our state. So as we dwell in suffering (which we are loathe to do) we learn to rely heavily upon the HS more and more, and the end result is that our hearts and cries start becoming more closely aligns with God’s heart and will.
Romans 8:28 And because of that God takes all the suffering, groaning and complaining, and turns it into a highway that brings us right into His presence. What a verse! God is able to take our suffering, loss and hurt and can work them to be the tools by which we learn to completely rely on and dwell with Him through the HS. So our calling is not to pain and suffering free life, sin ruined any chance of that for everyone! And we allow it to continue to ruin us. No, our calling is to suffer through life now, relying completely on God to work things to draw us closer to Him, which was His plan all along if you think about it, to redeem humanity to be close to Him. But why does it have to be this way?
Romans 8:29-30 Because He had to make us like Jesus. If we want to live and get the glory (ie life not and eternally, relationship, joy) we too must suffer as Jesus did. God called us to die that we might live. Do you realize how jaw dropping this is? Through Jesus God chose us, He called us, restored us in relationship and gives us Jesus’ glory. So just like Jesus was forced to suffer now in this life before He sat beside the Father, so must we. Not as punishment (remember Jesus paid that on the cross) but as a natural result of living in a corrupt creation that is longing to be reborn. And our cries mingle in with all of creation for that rebirth…and God has called us to it, just not yet. So our suffering is not a penalty, but labor pains that make us cling to God desperately waiting for the day when we will all be completely renewed. No wonder it is so hard now, thank God this time will be short when compared to eternity, and thank God we have the HS to sustain us until that rebirth comes!

The Way It Will Be...

Alright folks, today we're looking at Romans 8:19-25. And this might be a little out there, but bear with me and let your imagination have a little more freedom than you normally give it, after all it does us good to imagine, especially since we tend to not use our imagination much spiritually, which is pretty sad since God is so great that the only real way to conceive of Him is with that same imagination. All that being said, let’s start.


8:19: The world is waiting for the end. It has had enough of this charade, this numbing down of everything since the fall, and it can’t wait until the day we’re reunited with God and things are set right. Think much about how the earth feels about what we did, and are doing to it? Not to get all tree-huggery (huggery isn’t a word, but we’re using our imaginations remember?), but the truth is all of earth is God’s creation. We tend to think that just humans are God’s creation, but earth, stars, water, birds…all qualify. We’re all part of creation…and we’ve all been drastically affected by the fall, some more so than others. We can’t remember what things were like pre-fall, but what if the rest of creation could? Hmmmmm….

8:20-21: Sin came into the world, and what did it bring with it? Death. We always think that just meant for us…but what about the animals and environment? Who paid the first penalty for sin? The animals. Check out Genesis 3:21. God made Adam and Eve clothing out of animals, and death entered the world. And not only have we paid, but so has creation. It was not created for death and decay, but because of sin we now have that in the world. Ever wonder what the world was like before sin, and what kind of changes and limitations were put in it because of sin? What if animals used to be able to talk, but because of sin couldn’t anymore? Think it’s out there…then what about Balaam’s donkey? Either that was one smart ass (sorry, couldn’t resist) or perhaps God allowed it to be as it used to be. Who knows, but makes you wonder. And if because of sin death and decay entered in, have you ever thought about how that could have muted things, even wonderful things. What if the beautiful blue sky we see, is just a sad faded representation of what blue is really supposed to look like? And the green grass a sad mottled representation of what green was supposed to be? To quote the famous song, “Things that make you go HMMMMM.”

8:22: And here’s why I don’t think I’m so far out there (be quiet Michelle), creation itself longs for the day when it is set free and restored to what it once was. That’s got to beg the question, what was it like before? Even now the world struggles with itself like it is, knowing that it is messed up and not how it should be, how it will be. And how much does our sin of greed compound that as we for all intents and purposes rape creation for “things,” further scarring and decaying what was once perfect (by the way, it was God who said that) for our own pitiful little gains now? What will things look like when it’s all fixed and made perfect again?

8:23: Ok, here’s where we can let the imagination really run. Think of the closest you’ve felt to God through the Holy Spirit, be it a time of solitude, prayer, worship, or joy. That is like the preview, the trailer for what creation will be like when Jesus comes back and everything is restored to its pre-sin status. All the results and side-effects of sin will be removed, and instead it will be like it was always designed to be. By the way, take this passage as further proof that we won’t be sitting on a cloud mindlessly strumming a harp in eternity, but will in all likelihood be tearing through a new and virgin earth created as God always planned and designed, in the company of that same Creator reveling in the joy of being and being in the presence of rightness and goodness and love and joy and pleasure and belonging and holiness and truth. And that won’t be a vacation that will end far too soon, but will constitute our being for eternity. We will get to live on and experience Earth 2.0, and here’s where it gets really crazy, we get to experience it in Body 2.0. That’s right, we get new bodies (further proof that we won’t be some boring non-corporeal beings in the ether) that don’t have any of the problems ours do now like cancer, asthma, tiredness, migraines, back pain, bad breath, dandruff, arthritis, Alzheimer’s (I love the irony that people will one day forget that Alzheimer’s ever existed) and every other rotten decaying death bringing thing we must currently contend with because we choose to be sinful beings instead of living in covenant relationship with the God who loved and made us. Who knows, maybe these new bodies will be able to do things like fly, run 90 mph, lift a mountain, hear a flea speak, taste sunshine. I don’t know…but all those things would be pretty cool. I do know those new bodies will be able to worship better, if for no other reason that they get to be in the presence of the One that deserves that worship. Man, one day things are going to be very COOL!!!!!

8:24-25: But not yet…well, crap! Would be great if all this got to happen tomorrow, but we don’t know when it will happen. So we dwell now, in this corrupt, dirty, shrinking world we call home, missing out on what it means to be created by the Living God and walking in intimate relationship with Him, and for now we see through a glass but darkly of what it will be like. So why even hang that beautiful idea out there, why tease with a promise of someday? Because without that promise, we’d just die now. Without that promise, why go on? Without that promise, we’d have no reason to hope. And hope is the elixir that builds in us faith, and faith is what gives us the strength to go on in this buggy place, until the perfect comes. So here’s the plan: wait patiently, and with confidence that the God who created you, saved you by Jesus’ blood, and encourages you through the Holy Spirit will one day, “set right what once went wrong” (Yes that’s from Quantum Leap, but it’s GOOD!). And then life will really start…which is good because I’ve always wanted to experience real life.