Paul, who elsewhere wrote that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free, refers to himself as the prisoner of Jesus Christ. This immediately brings to mind his comments in Romans 6:18 “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”

In a recent article, I wrote that God cursed the ground, but if we read this passage carefully, we see that the ground was cursed because of what Adam had done. So, there is deeper truth here that was not addressed in what I wrote earlier.

It would be very easy for me to spend my energy refuting errant teaching. I could argue from scripture, call out poor interpretive practices, and criticize exegesis. I could point out scriptures missing from the "proofs" put forward for the doctrine being presented.

Giving gifts is a way in which we demonstrate Love like Father.
Receiving gifts is a way in which we respond to Love.

It can be easy to say all this, but our human brains are trained from birth to look for the how-to of everything. The short answer is an old cliché. Let go and let God. "Let" is a verb that means: “not prevent or forbid”; “allow.”

Earlier we read that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through Love. We also saw that the Love being referred to here is self-giving agape’ Love. We humans find that challenging. Truth be told, we find it impossible.

If it’s from Father, it will not produce fear, doubt, guilt, or shame. Every good and perfect gift is from Him. (James 1:17) What He says will always be consistent with scripture and it will always be consistent with His character.

Clearly there are things we are designed to do. Apparently, these things are to characterize our lives. That’s what walking in them means. Our lives are to be characterized by good works.

One way is through worship. To worship is to glorify God. We glorify God when we make Him known in a relatable and understandable way. When we “manifest” Him, or make Him tangible to others.

What is eternal has no beginning and no end, and therefore eternal Life is the kind of Life only God has. This is the Life in which we find ourselves living and moving and existing, as Acts 17:28 points out.

The news that Christ is in us is great. However, just as some TV ads from a few decades ago exclaimed, “but wait, there’s more!” Not only is Christ in us, but we are also in Christ. We are baptized into Him. We are immersed in Christ.

When Christ resides in a person, that person has eternal Life. In John 4:13–14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (NIV)

In our heart, we want to have godly attitudes and actions, but the flesh sometimes (maybe even often) results in our failure to do that. Ungodly attitudes and actions happen when the temptation of the worldly way of living by what seems best to our senses draws us away from the godly responses and behaviors we truly want.

Do you realize that all of creation is waiting with great anticipation for the day when you are fully revealed as a glorious child of God? It's true! Just ask Romans 8:19.