I know . . .

 

 

READ Romans 5-8

Faith is defined as knowing what we cannot see. This ‘knowing’ is God’s gift of grace that gives sight to a life once blind to spiritual matters. Today’s reading has a dozen examples of what Christians just know, truths that are affirmed by the Word of God and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. This is what we know:

We can rejoice in suffering “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3–5) We might complain, but we know God uses suffering to mature us.

We are united with Christ in His death and in His life. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death . . . in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3–4)

That unity sets us free from sin because we know our old self was crucified with Him. “For one who has died has been set free from sin . . . we will also live with him” and He will never die again and He now lives to God, so we also are dead to sin and alive to God. (Romans 6:6–11)

We present ourselves to righteousness because we know that is freedom — rather than being slaves to sin. (Romans 6:16–18)

We know the law of God once held us captive yet we died to it and now serve Christ, knowing we are set free from the bondage of a code we could not keep. (Romans 7:1–2; 6) This does not mean the law is sin for by it we know sin and that we are guilty of sin. “When the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.” (Romans 7:7–10)

We also know that the law is spiritual, but we cannot keep it in our own strength. We do not understand our own actions, do things we don’t want to do, and know that nothing good dwells in us. (Romans 7:14–18)

All genuine Christians know the good news: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) We are “not in the flesh but in the Spirit” because the Holy Spirit lives in us. We also know that “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” (Romans 8:9)

This knowing is for now but also gives us eternal hope. This hope is strong and can say things like:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22–23)

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)

For me, the very first truth I learned after Jesus gave me faith to believe the gospel was this:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

I know that no matter what is happening in the world or in my life, it is allowed by God’s goodness and used for His transforming work. Because of this knowing, I’m do not get upset easily about a lot of things — I know that God is asking for a childlike trust and a Christlike response from me. I know trials are opportunities to grow, to be like Jesus.

While my spiritual enemy shoots lies designed to destroy my assurance, I know” the promises of God that affirm the following truth:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38–39)

Lord God, as I read Your words, You continually assure me that what I know about You is true. You have convinced me by grace through faith, not with pie-in-the-sky but promises that bless my life and set my feet on solid ground.

 

Our Burden-Bearer

BEAR in the Bible has at least three meanings, just as it does in English. One is the animal. Another is to bear or produce, as in bear fruit. Another is to bear testimony as supporting evidence for a truth or event. The fourth one describes God’s nature in an assuring way: “to bear or endure something unpleasant or difficult whether on one’s own behalf or on behalf of someone else” or simply to carry a heavy load or burden.

This burden-bearing can be for His own self, such as when people are disobeying His good plan for their lives. He bears their rejection:

Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. (Nehemiah 9:30)

However, many passages describe God bearing our burdens, ranging from the problems of life to the greatest burden — sin.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah (Psalm 68:19)

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” (Isaiah 46:3–4)

Surely he (Jesus) has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)

In the time of Jesus, demonic oppression and sickness were large burdens. Jesus showed the love of God by bearing or carrying away those burdens:

That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16–17)

All the time He was at work, the Holy Spirit was also bearing witness to their inner conscience that Jesus was God with them and telling the truth. This happened before the crucifixion and then afterward as believers needed that inner assurance:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:16)

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— (Romans 9:1)

This helped His people know that He was with them and to remember how to live as He wanted them to live: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6–7) They did not have the full canon of Scripture with that reminder so the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to their spirit was vital in those early days.

Yet this is still a vital truth for us. I can get so burdened about something that I forget God is the one who carries my load. I can forget to take my cares to Him — and need the Holy Spirit to put reminders into my mind. He does this because of the biggest burden carried for me — my guilt and load of sin.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” (Hebrews 10:14–17)

That God bore my sin happened because “God so loved the world.” He cares about me; His love endures.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. As I think about that enduring love, it becomes easier to love others with the same endurance. He says, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7) and tells me to love Him and those around me with that same kind of love, a love that is willing to give up my desires and plans, maybe even to carry things too heavy for others. If God had not done it, I would not even think of doing it, let alone have His Spirit to enable such burden-bearing.