It is said that we are created with a God-shaped vacuum and never feel satisfied until that void is filled with Him. Yet even then, in this blessed Christian life there is a sense of incompleteness. We know we have Him and yet we know He does not have all of us. For that, there is a deep longing.
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 8:23)
Spurgeon’s reading for today so perfectly describes this inner longing that I am personalizing his words as a mirror and echo of what the Lord says to me also.
All believers feel this groaning to a greater or lesser degree. It is not the groan of murmuring or complaint, but rather the note of desire. We have received the Holy Spirit, yet we desire the whole experience of Him.
We sigh that our entire spirit, soul, and body is not yet set free from the last vestige of the fall. We long to put off all corruption, weakness, and dishonor. We yearn inwardly to be wrapped in purity, immortality, glory — in the spiritual body which the Lord Jesus will bestow upon us. We long for the manifestation of our adoption as the children of God.
This groaning is “within ourselves” and not the groan of a hypocrite so as to make others believe we are greater saints because of our wretched state. Instead, these sighs are sacred, too hallowed to talk about. They are known to and offered to our Lord alone.
We “wait” and are not petulant like Jonah or Elijah when life was difficult and they blurted, “Let me die.” We do not whimper for the end of life because we are tired of work, nor wish to escape present sufferings for we are tired of those also. We groan for glorification, but must wait patiently for it, knowing that the timing of the Lord is best. Waiting implies being ready, standing at the door expecting Jesus to open it and take us to Himself.
This “groaning” is a test. People can be judged by what they long for. Some groan after wealth for they worship money. Some groan under the troubles of life because they are impatient and perhaps love comfort. Some groan for glory in this life. However, the person who sighs after God and is uneasy until he is made like Jesus is a blessed believer. He sighs because the Spirit who lives within also groans for the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection which He will bring to us.
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Lord, You know my heart. There is nothing to add to this.
When the New Testament was written, the Romans might adopt a child but keep it private. After a time, they would hold a second adoption in public. For this, the child was brought before the authorities and his former garments were removed. Then the adopting father gave his child new clothing suitable to his new life.
I can easily imagine how a child would feel if taken from the lower rank of society and adopted by someone like a Roman senator. He would be excited and happy in his new family situation, but would also long for that day of public adoption. Then he would put off all the old garments of his former life and be robed and seen as the child of a noble and respected father.
This is easy to imagine for it parallels the experience and emotions of those who believe in Jesus Christ. We have been adopted into the family of God and are His children. However, our new lives are only visible, as Spurgeon says, by certain moral characteristics. Our adoption is not yet openly declared.
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 8:23)
Sometimes I look in the mirror and laugh — what is a young girl like me doing in such an old body! Yet as a believer in Jesus Christ, the old body is not this outwardly perishing flesh so much as it is the “flesh” of my old nature. The person that I was before Christ changed my life still clings to me like old garments. I belong to a new family and have a new Father, yet so often those old clothes conceal who I am and can give me even more dismay than the mirror when they do. I have not yet been “arrayed in the apparel which befits the royal family of heaven” because I am still putting off this flesh that looks more like a daughter of Adam.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he (Jesus Christ) appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
Jesus is the “firstborn among many brethren” and “not ashamed to call us His brethren” so I am in His family, yet until I see Him, my adoption is somewhat hidden. I am waiting until I can be properly and fully robed, manifested as a child of God.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:1–4)
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Oh my Father, I do “groan inwardly” at times, mostly to see You, but also to experience the fullness and freedom that will be mine when this adoption, the redemption of my body, is complete. Your Word says that will happen when I see Jesus as He is, indicating that glorious day when I step out of this world and into Yours.
However, You also give me wonderful glimpses of Him even now. You tell me that as I “with unveiled face behold the glory of the Lord,” I am being transformed into the same image by the power of Your Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). Let me see more of You, that I might be more like You, the noble and glorious One that I can call Abba, Father — because You have adopted me.