The apostle Paul’s writing can be confusing. Here it seems that he is writing about choices we need to make in life. From this reading we learn what it means to live in the world. But we also learn what the other option at the fork in the road is: to be led by the Spirit and lead lives as children of God.
Being led by the Spirit is not always an easy road to go, it must be said. Sometimes, I have found, it takes me down paths I had no intention of going or paths I don’t know where they will lead. Regardless, knowing that God has adopted me (verse 14) means that God has chosen me to follow this path as a child of God, no matter where this path leads me.
Being led by the Spirit means that the basis for our lives is knowing that we are loved, secure, and given a gift of grace by the Spirit. Led by the Spirit we give thanks for always being claimed by God as God’s children.
God of new life, help me to see the path in life that you wish for me to go, so that I understand where I am led by the Spirit as I live as a child of God. Amen. —