Children of God - 23 May 2024

There are very few things that upset me as much as uncertainty. Just think how much one can worry about that strange red spot on your skin, just because you are uncertain. It just might be a malignant growth. Unfortunately, we live in a world and society of many uncertainties. Jobs, politics, health care, family, high crime rates, etc. These are just some of the issues and there are many more, if you want to list them.

Paul wrote the letter to the Romans about 20 years after the beginning of the church in Jerusalem. The young church has spread her wings and churches were already established in cities like Rome, Corinth and Ephesus. The believers in Rome probably did not have a single congregation, but attended small home churches. When reading this letter and some of his other letters, one can deduce that there were many uncertainties among the believers about a wide range of things. Paul had to answer questions about many different problems.

Most of these uncertainties centred around issues regarding religion and faith. This is still true today. Since the Second World War, with its horrors, destruction and the killing of millions of people, more and more people started to ask the question – does God really exist? That is the one question that nobody can answer for you. You either believe in the existence of God or you do not. To everyone of us who does believe in God, the next logical question is, how do I know if I belong to God?

People must have already asked this question in Paul’s time. The whole letter to the Romans is an answer to this question. According to Paul, certainty of faith does not depend on me; it is God’s Spirit who “joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children”. Certainty is not dependent on how I feel, but is the working of the Spirit. This is what God says and I believe him one hundred percent.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you so much that my faith does not depend on how I feel, but on who you are. Amen