Living in the Spirit

June 10, 2022

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

I get suffering producing endurance and endurance produces character but, I had to stop and think about character producing hope. Paul, the author of this idea, certainly lived it. He spent time in jail simply for preaching the ways of Jesus Christ. In some instances, he was waiting to see if he would be released, left there to starve or be executed. Until recently, I did not know that prisons in Paul’s time did not always feed their inmates. The prisoners were often at the mercy of friends and family to bring them nourishment. Experiencing that type of commitment does produce hope.  That type of commitment is just a reflection of the love of God provided through the gift of the Holy Spirit who nourishes our souls. We, too, are called to bring hope to a world when things seem so hopeless.

I just watched the testimony of a ten-year-old girl survivor of the Uvalde shooting who showed character and hope when she spread over her body the blood from her dead friend lying on the floor next to her so the shooter would think she too was dead. Hope may have saved her life. We as a people must be the catalyst for the changes needed so that such shootings do not happen. We must let this child’s courage and character teach us to be bringers of hope.

 Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we selfishly replace the safety of our schools so we can keep our deadly toys. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.