In Romans 8 Paul wrote that “those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

The rest of the world, on the other hand, have their minds set on the desires of their “flesh” – the stuff of our created, fallen, sinful human nature.

As we pick up daily life and busyness after the COVID-19 slowdown, many of us are frustrated. Some of us are missing our pleasures: a meal in a restaurant or a football match. Some of us have seen our jobs or our businesses disappear. We are tired and the stress of all the changes and worries is making us less productive – so even as we are tired, we have to work harder to get stuff done. All these frustrations will dominate the news for months to come.

Pray for governments and opposition parties, that they will serve us well in our frustration!

But Romans 8:20 says that frustration is the state of the world: “the creation was subjected to frustration”.

God did this so that “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay.” That means that all the stuff going on in the world can be freed for something better and lasting. God will bring the world into “the freedom and glory of the children of God”. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

God is making people into his children – he is making you and me more and more like Jesus. That is his purpose, and it will never – it can never – be frustrated.

So, in all the frustrations of our lives right now, God is working. In all the stuff we can’t do or can hardly do, God is continuing to remake you into a free, glorious child of God in Christ Jesus.

Alan Wood