3.20.2026 - Scott Elgersma

Friday, March 20, 2026

Romans 8:14-17

We read today from Romans 8:14-17. Read the passage now or at the end of this devotion. What can we learn today from the light of God’s word to us?

Settle yourself in a comfortable posture. Sit up straight and breathe into your stomach. Focus on slowly taking calming breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. After a moment or two, breathe out and breathe in four times slowly to these phrases. “I am in Christ.” “I am a new creation.” “The old has gone.” “The new has come.” 

This week, we are going to talk about selflessness. Our study will take us through the first 17 verses of Romans 8. We will break the bigger section into smaller texts that we will discuss and learn more about how our selflessness must be centered in Christ.

If you ever want to see some video that will turn on your tear ducts, do a YouTube search on “Stepchildren acknowledging their stepparent as mom or dad”. You can do the same with “Adopted”. Bring the tissues. It’ll get ya.

In these videos, a child who is connected to a parent through adoption or a step relationship does something to acknowledge this parent as mom or dad. They might put their stepparent’s last name on their sports jersey. They might graduate using the other’s last name. They might file the paperwork that they gift to their parent so that if they sign, they become that child’s “legal” parent, a relationship that moves beyond the love they already share.

These videos connect with us because they touch that part of us where we want to know we “belong”. Especially because adoption and step relationships take time and effort to create that belonging, the images of a heartfelt embrace between two people who belong to each other through love resonates with us. We all want to belong. We all want to be wanted by another out of love. We all want to be part of a family.

That’s why the imagery of verses 14-17 is so important for us to take in.

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.””

The relationship that God has given to his children through the grace of Jesus Christ is not simply to change our eternity, it’s not only to remove the condemnation of sin, it is not just about changing our experience of living in this life, it is also about changing our identity. We are now sons and daughters of God. We are included in the family. We can give up trying to earn our place in this world and striving for what it offers because of what being part of God’s family means for us.

It means we have everything. We have everything not because of what we have done, but because of the redemption we know through the grace of Christ. Our inheritance is beyond comprehension. A skimming of the last two chapters of the book of Revelation shows us an eternity beyond our capacity to understand. The Father WANTS us with him in his presence even more than we long for love and intimacy with our own children and grandchildren. Through Christ, we belong.

Which must lead us to gratitude. We did not earn this. We cannot claim it because of who we are. We claim it because of what Christ has done to welcome us in.

That’s the core of selflessness. It’s gratitude. When we are thankful for the good gifts of God, we grow in our willingness to put ourselves aside and give him glory. When we understand what he has done, our thanksgiving equips us to adopt his agenda as our agenda. When we know the power of grace to include us in the family of God, we become more and more willing to say, “not my will, but yours be done oh Lord.”

May the Spirit equip us with that gratitude. May Christ take our gratitude for his glory and use it to proclaim his name to a world that desperately needs to hear it.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his smile towards you and give you his peace.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I love you all. Blessings.

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To contact the author, please email: elgersma@therivercrc.com