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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
March 8
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Today's Pathway:
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Today we will see a few more blessings that God has promised to His children. In verse 16 Paul writes that the Holy Spirit helps us to remember that we are indeed God's children. The expression "beareth witness" means "to give testimony", and the verb tense used indicates that this is a continual activity. The believer never needs to wonder whether or not he is saved, because part of the Holy Spirit's responsibility is to keep showing our human spirit that we are. Even without the Holy Spirit's help the Christian should know that he is saved because of the promises of Scripture. But in His graciousness God does give the Holy Spirit to assist our human spirit in understanding this truth. Some of the means by which He does this would include convicting us of sin, sending comfort in difficult situations, aiding our understanding of the Bible, and producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
In verse 17 Paul gives one last benefit of being a child of God. We are now heirs of God. We are familiar with this concept: in most circumstances children inherit from their parents. In much the same way God has an inheritance planned for His children. However, His inheritance for His children is far greater than any human inheritance could be. Peter wrote,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you" (I Peter 1:3-4).
He uses four terms to describe this inheritance. The first is "incorruptible". Our inheritance from God will never shrivel, wither, or spoil. It is also "undefiled": it is not tainted or contaminated. Third, it will never "fade away", or become extinguished or disappear. These first three terms show that there will be nothing wrong with our inheritance when we receive it, that nothing will ever go wrong with our inheritance after we receive it, and our inheritance will always be there, just as available and wonderful as it was the day we got it, through all eternity. Then Peter says that our inheritance is "reserved in Heaven". We understand the concept of having reservations. The seat at the restaurant or concert or ball game is reserved for us and no one else can take it. However, the word translated "reserved" carries an added emphasis. It means "to guard", or "to keep your eye on". Not only does God have an inheritance set aside for us, He is guarding it to make sure that nothing can defile it or take it away from us.
Now Paul shows us something that, to me, seems even more amazing. We are "joint-heirs with Christ". This goes back to the fact that at our salvation God adopted us into His family. Jesus is God's "only begotten" Son (John 3:16). The literal meaning of that term is "only born". We know from Scripture that Jesus has always existed, and there was never a time when He was "born" (John 1:1-3). However, He holds that unique "only begotten" relationship with God the Father. Yet we, who were born as children of the devil in rebellion against God, and only by His grace have been adopted into His family, are inheritors with the only-begotten Son. What a wonderful God we have!
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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