“—the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
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In Romans 8:19, the apostle Paul writes, “For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing (the outshining) of the sons of God.” When the sons of God show as they are, taking, with the character, the appearance and the place that belong to their sonship; when the sons of God sit with the Son of God on the throne of their Father; then shall they be in potency of fact the lords of the lower creation, the bestowers of liberty and peace upon it; then shall the creation find its freedom in their freedom, its gladness in their sonship. The animals will glory to serve them, will joy to come to them for help. Let the heartless scoff, the unjust despise! The heart that cries Abba, Father, cries to the God of the sparrow and the oxen; nor can hope go too far in hoping what God will do for the creation that now groaneth and travaileth in pain because our higher birth is delayed. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Shall my heart be more compassionate than his?
Until Christ is born in me, until I am revealed a son of God, pain and trouble will endure—and God grant they may! Until you yourself are the son of God you were born to be, you will never find life a good thing. Thus have both Jesus Christ and his love-slave Paul represented God—as a Father perfect in love, grand in self-forgetfulness, supreme in righteousness, devoted to the lives he has uttered.
Commentary
by James House
"...the manifestation of the grown-up sons of God; the showing of those as sons, who have always been his children; the bringing of them out before the universe in such suitable attire and with such fit attendance, that to look at them is to see what they are, the sons of the house—such to whom their elder brother applied the words: 'I said ye are Gods.'"
-- George MacDonald, Hope of the Gospel
Until Christ is born in me, until I am a revealed son of God, pain and trouble will endure - and God grant they may!
(Today's reading)
"the cause of every man's discomfort is evil, moral evil—first of all, evil in himself, his own sin, his own wrongness, his own unrightness"
-- George MacDonald, Hope of the Gospel
Pain in trouble indeed. This past week I have hurt the feelings of people whom I love - including those whom are the dearest to me. I confess I do this all too regularly - in small inadvertent ways, and yes, in less small and less accidental ways. Today my soul has ached at the thought of the hurts I have inflicted through impatience, sharpness, and pride. Too often I notice what I'm doing just after it is too late. I ache to be better - I ache to act always as the child of God that I am.
"It is a little strength that longs for more; it is infant righteousness that hungers after righteousness."
-- George MacDonald, Hope of the Gospel
"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
-- Hebrews 12:5-7
Christ's grace is the key to removing my ache by growing my ability to act in love. Thank you Father for loving me enough to chasten me.
"Men cannot be righteous without love; to love a righteous man is the best, the only way to learn righteousness: the Lord gives us himself to love, and promises his closest friendship to them that overcome". -- George MacDonald, Hope of the Gospel
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." - John 14:6