Today's encouragement comes from Romans 9:8, where we read these words:
“This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” (ESV)What does it mean, to be, “the children of the promise”? It means, to be in the spiritual lineage of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. If we are in the spiritu-al lineage of Esau, Ishmael, and Abraham—then we are not “children of the promise.” One missed step here knocks us out of the promised covenant of grace.
The physical lineage is of no account; but the spiritual lineage is of ulti-mate account—and this is because it runs us all the way back to Jesus, the one redemptive “seed” of Abraham, (Gal. 3:16).
[Puritan quote of the day: "When a man is shaken in his own righteousness, then he sees the emptiness and the lying disposition of it.” —William Bridge, in, "A Lifting Up For the Downcast"]
[Puritan quote of the day: "When a man is shaken in his own righteousness, then he sees the emptiness and the lying disposition of it.” —William Bridge, in, "A Lifting Up For the Downcast"]
