Have you ever been driving home in the evening and glanced at a house you pass, noticing the warm light shining through the window? Have you thought, like I have, “I wonder what they are doing tonight? It looks so inviting in that room!” We’ve probably all experienced that wonder before. Chances are, the people living in that house are doing the same thing you and I do when we get home from work or an evening meeting. We kick off our shoes, make and eat dinner and settle in. Maybe we get the kids in the bath and in bed. Maybe we check email or Instagram or throw in a load of laundry. If we have time, we watch a movie on Netflix or read a few chapters of a good book (if we can stay awake!) We have that in common. We spend our evenings doing what most other people in our neighborhood or apartment buildings are doing. We live a common life.
At Fellowship, we also live a common life. We have in common the habit of getting up on Sunday mornings and making our way to church. We worship, listen to the sermon, drink coffee together and head home for a Sabbath afternoon. We have our faith in common. We share the belief that Jesus really is who He said He was, and that He will do what He says He will do. Together and as individuals we believe and trust in God our Savior.
Although our life is common, it is not mundane. It is not ordinary, although it may seem so at times. In reality, we live an uncommon life in that God’s Spirit lives in us. In 2 Corinthians 6:16 Paul writes to the believers, “And God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” We live with the Spirit of the Living God dwelling in us. That’s certainly not ordinary! When I take time to simmer on that truth, I am blown away by the fact that God uses ordinary people to accomplish HIS unordinary deeds!
Using the Common Life booklet as we walk through Romans has been invaluable to my husband and me as we take time out of our ordinary evenings to read together HIS extraordinary Word! Romans 8 is all about that life we live in common with other believers with the Spirit of God in us. It reminds me that we are free from what binds us, and that truth brings real tangible hope. It reminds me that Spirit life is not anxious, but rests at peace recognizing God is still in control. It reminds me that all creation shares the groaning with me that life would be better, that oppression would cease, and that redemption would be complete. Finally, it calls me to pray. It calls me to pray for my family and friends, that they too, in their common, ordinary days might have their eyes and hearts opened to the love of a compassionate and faithful God.
So, let’s join together in reading God’s Word. Let’s partner together in using this little booklet on Romans 8 to enter into God’s realm, to hear His voice, and to let HIS extraordinary work be done in and through ordinary people like you and me.
“For if God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31
– by Lisa Meyers