Romans 8

I'm memorizing Romans 8. I'm seeing how by reading it day after day (just the first 8 verses) what it means to preach the gospel to yourself daily and how the vast majority of my days as a follower of Jesus have not included a reminder of the gospel, of what has been done on my behalf. And it is amazing how these same verses day after day minister to me wherever I am. Because I seem to be one who is so easily weighed down and discouraged by each day, sometimes regardless of what the day brings. I am worried that I woke up too late, that my time with the Lord was not rich enough, that I did not serve people, that I did not represent Christ well, that I wasted time, on and on. Romans 8 is a constant and gorgeous reminder that it is all about what he did. That God what you and I cannot do. We cannot fulfill the law because we are weakened by our own flesh. But God has done it, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin so that the righteous requirement of the law may be FULFILLED in us. Not only is the sin paid for but the requirement of the law is fulfilled. When we take on christ, when we accept his obedience the law is satisfied. We are counted as just. I think about how weak I am in the smallest things, like the way that I interact with Katie and David this week as my parents are out of town. My desire is to imitate christ, and act the way our Father acts towards us-being both loving and just. Demanding obedience and carrying out discipline out of his deep and perfect love for his children-it is so hard! My flesh is in the way. I constantly become either to quick to relent out of a desire to please them and make them happy with me or am frustrated and stubbornly hold onto my rightness or I don't carry out the logical consequences and I make up consequences that are illogical as a means of control. What a mess. How hard it must be for Christian parents. I constantly am asking God,

What would you do? How do you handle this? Make me more like you God, I want them to have an understanding of who you are and I want the way that I interact them and the way that I care for them this week to exemplify that, to point to you.

So I come before my father discouraged. Certain that he cannot be pleased with me. And he gently reminds me that I have again forgotten his gospel. That he cannot be displeased with me because my life is now hid with Christ on high. That he is not simply pleased with me. He delights in me. As his own daughter. An heir with Christ.

The focus of so much of Romans 8 is on the mind. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh and those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the spirit. How much I have ignored my mind. I am so focused on the actions of each day, as well as on my behavior, carefully policing them, intent on serving as many people as possible, intent on serving God himself and I let my mind stay in the thorns of sin and filled with darkness. When your mind is set on the flesh you cannot please God. The inner darkness and invisible sin leads just as clearly to death as does the outer, even if no one else can see it. Likewise, a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace.