Romans 8:17: And If Children, Then heirs--Heirs of God And Fellow Heirs With Christ

Romans 8:17
[17] and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)

Do you know who you are? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ you might simply say, "I am a Christian." Or, you may say, "I am born again." I have heard people say that they are "Christ-followers." These are all helpful descriptions of what it means to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. In this verse we learn more details concerning our identity.

We are children. We are not just any children, but we are God's children. That fact should never cease to amaze us. In our sin, we were without God and without hope. If God were to choose children to adopt why would he adopt us? We were in complete rebellion to him. Yet, God called us unto himself, and sacrificed his own Son to purchase us. Truly amazing. We are God's children.

Paul takes things a step further. We are not only children of God, but we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. It is amazing how fixated we can be on the wealth that we desire here on this Earth. As heirs of God we are promised far more than all of the riches in the Earth combined. We will be in eternity sharing all of the riches of God for all eternity. We are heirs.

And it gets better. We are told that will will suffer with Christ as part of the process of our being glorified with him. At first glance you might think that the suffering is a terrible thing. What we need to realize is that suffering with Jesus enables us to identify more intimately with our Savior. He is with us through every struggle. We are more like him as we suffer with him.

Who are you? Are you God's child? God's heir? A co-sufferer with Christ? What a privilege! Celebrate your identity in Christ today.

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