Romans 8 still haunts us the with question, what will it look like to walk in the Spirit (today, this week, this year)? But would we be surprised to discover that we are already doing just that, that the Spirit is already having its way with our hearts, and in ways we often don’t recognize? How many of us feel that we’re not praying enough, that our prayer life is not what it ought to be? Is there some spiritual standard we feel that we’re falling short of? Whatever is producing that insecurity in us, it’s not the gospel. The gospel we’re encountering in Romans 8 is opening our eyes to how the Spirit is already active in and among us, and to the prayers we’re already praying.
The word “Spirit” is used 19 times in Romans 8. With Paul’s help, we’re coming to recognize that Spirit as easily as it wants to be recognized. The Spirit is changing us from the inside out, and as a result, fear has lost its control on us. (Romans 8:15) That’s what really enslaves us, says Paul. Fear is more than an incorrect reaction to circumstances, more than an anxious feeling when something is not going the way it should go. Fear is a power that enslaves, that grips us and does not want to let go. But the Spirit has other plans, namely to make us sons and daughters of God that perfectly belong, not to fear, but to him and his family. And because we’re his children, we’re also heirs to what he’s promised us – his very Spirit (and, as Paul will go on in the following verses, the whole redeemed, Spirit-filled creation).
If we need proof that this is true, look no further than the human capacity to call God, “Father.” “When we cry, ‘Abba, Father,’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (8:15-16) The Church could not even utter the word “Father” unless the Spirit were already perfectly at home in us. When just this one word rises from our lips, when we so much as begin the Lord’s Prayer, the Spirit of God has fused with our own spirit to cry out to God. In fact, this can be the case even without a word. “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words.” (8:26) Yes, all this time that we’re beating ourselves up for not praying enough or well enough, even our exhausted groans are a crystal-clear sign that the Spirit is at home within us, praying on our behalf, with or without words.
Here’s the gospel: within this baptized reality in which we swim every moment of every day, there could not be greater intimacy between the human heart and the Spirit of God. God’s very Spirit is as close to us as our own heart, our own lungs, our own breath. As close to us as the groans and grunts that climb up and escape our throats. Prayer is not meant to be a complicated problem to be solved. It’s not supposed to be an Olympic achievement. Actually, the bar for what counts as a Spirit-fueled prayer is astonishingly low. The prayer that pleases God and finds its way perfectly and easily into the heart of God is surprisingly simple. In fact, God is not only pleased with a one-word prayer, or the prayer of a tired grunt, but God is the very one entering into the heart and lungs to push that prayer upward in the first place.
The Holy Spirit is perfect at home in us, church, even when prayer does not come naturally, because our God really is that good. So let us pay attention to the groans and grunts. Let us pray just one word at a time if needed, and go from there. Let us be opened up to the Spirit that has already arrived.
0 Comments