Beloved, we are no longer like “fearful slaves” instead, we are the Master’s children. What a privilege! Because we are God’s children, we share in His great treasures as co-heirs. God has already given His best gifts: His son, His Holy Spirit, forgiveness and eternal life; and encourages us to ask Him for whatever we need.

There is a price for being identified with Jesus. Along with being “heirs of His glory,” Paul also mentions the suffering that Christians must face. What kind of suffering are we to endure? For first – century believers, there was economic and social persecution, and some even faced death. We too must pay a price for following Jesus. In many parts of today’s world, Christians face pressures just as severe as those faced by Christ’s followers. Even in countries where Christianity is tolerated or encouraged, Christians must not become complacent. To live as Jesus did – serving others, giving up one’s rights, resisting pressures to conform to the world – always exacts a price. Nothing we suffer, however, can compare to the great price that Jesus paid to save us.

Sin has caused all creation to fall from the perfect state in which God created it. The world is in bondage to death and decay so that it cannot fulfill it’s intended purpose. One day all creation will be liberated and transformed. Until that time, it waits in eager expectation for the ressurection of God’s children.