14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8: 14-17
When we cry ‘Abba, father,’
the Spirit cries with us,
uniting our spirit with the broken spirit
of the crucified God.
The Spirit drowns our spirit of banal fear,
and bears witness
to our resurrected spirit of adoption.
We belong to a new life-giving family that is being
pulled towards a destiny
too great to presently know.
As we see the distance between who we are,
and what we will become,
the gulf between our impoverished spirits,
and the inheritance that lie ahead,
our suffering becomes more severe,
the cry for ‘Abba’ becomes deeper still.
Our wrenched cry confirms that we are God’s children,
and our suffering points towards a future horizon
so beautiful
that simply to hope in it
is enough to break us,
and to heal us.
rick fry 