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Key Verse: Romans 8:14-17

^{14 "}For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ¹⁵ For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. ¹⁶ The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ¹⁷ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

Why do Christians mess up? If the law was meant to save, why does it come up short and leave us with a feeling of guilt and shame? Christian life is like computer components. We have hardware and software issues. If we only obey God's commandments but leave out the Spirit of God, we are void of His intimate presence in our daily life. As the apostle Paul struggled with this after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, he couldn't understand why Jesus would accuse him, "Why are you persecuting Me?" He was following all of God's commands and was zealous for the Lord. In Paul's eyes, he was doing the right thing. However, there is more to Christianity than obeying laws. There was a great disconnect between Paul and God. God wanted to reveal to him that without love all things are meaningless. It doesn't matter what work we do or what success we achieve in ministry and life in general. All of it is rubbish if we don't understand how much God loves us regardless of our sinful state. We are constantly living in the old operating system and it is in battle with the updated operating system that God wants to give in order to transform our body from the inside out. We constantly live under a mask and show everyone that we're okay on the outside, but inside we are tormented unceasingly by insecurities and fears. We often feel like a failure because we live under a slave mentality thinking that if we just make up for our sins, then God will love us and not be angry with us. We need to stop living in the mindset that we deserve bad things because of all the bad things we've done or that God should reward and love us for all the good that we've done. That only keeps us chained to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We try with all our strength to try to be good but evil is right there to turn us off course. Psalm 103:10 says, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." God doesn't punish us for what we deserve, but we have a habit of shaming ourselves, which only brings condemnation. Shame is a killer and destroys everything in its path. Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery, but told her not to sin anymore. We who do not have the Spirit of adoption will always operate on an orphan spirit, and we will continue to live on the performance model, which only produces worldly results that will leave us empty instead of spiritual gain.

In Luke 15:11-32, we see the prodigal son asking his father for his inheritance so that he could spend it on worldly pleasures. I guess if you fast forward to today, it would be like a son asking his dad for part of the estate in cash. Without hesitation or question, the dad gives him the money, and the son goes to Las Vegas to spend it on gambling, girls and parties day after day. When all the money is gone, the son becomes homeless and hungry, but he finally comes to his senses. He realizes his father's servants are treated much better than his current state, and so he rehearses what he will say to his dad hoping he will take him back in. What we would normally expect in a situation like this is for the father to turn a cold shoulder and scold the son for his foolish behavior, but the opposite happens. Instead of getting what he deserved, the father gives him his signet ring, clothes him with a new suit, and throws a lavish party to celebrate his return. In the human perspective like the older son, we think that our Father is not fair and should have punished the younger son. However, when you think about God's love in this situation, is He really not fair? 2 Peter 3:8-9 says, " But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God's fairness doesn't equal human fairness. God longs for each one of His children to run into His arms and cry out, "Abba, Father!" It isn't duty that changes our heart but only the love of God can transform us.

Just as computers have glitches and need necessary updates regularly, God, who is a master in error resolution, will help us overcome our sin problem and weaknesses so that we can perform optimally. We have to stop living with a firewall of virus protection that will block out even the good programs. Remember, we are a new creation in Christ; the old has gone and the new has come. This is a lifelong process for our faith to be worked out until we meet Jesus in person, who will give us our new body with the final update/transformation. Until then, our bodies will be engaged in a constant battle between our sin nature and our spirit. However, we have this hope given to us in James 1:2-4, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect (mature) and entire (complete), wanting nothing." All we need is the Father's love, which is unconditional and does not expect anything in return. Therefore, let us reconnect with our Lord, delight in the fact that we are children of God, and sit at His feet daily to receive wisdom and truth that will set us free to become all whom God created us to be.