We have been given a free will which is a God given gift. With that freedom comes a stewardship, as with all stewardships there is an accounting of my actions. So it is my belief that evil and righteousness exists together. In my free will to chose, my choices I present to myself, to God and to my fellow man represent the person that I am. Upon seeing the true me, I have the opportunity to reach outside myself to a life of faith, or to live within myself as just mentioned.
Next word is “translated.” It is a strange word, not a word we commonly use. As our lives get farther removed from the generations and the cultures that wrote the scriptures, the importance of studying the context in the original language is even that much more important. In the Greek the word is a compound word, like our words with a prefix or suffix which influences the root meaning of the word.
“Translated” in Greek is “methistano” which is derived from “meta,” denoting a change of place or condition. “Histemi,” meaning to place or to make stand. In context it is to move someone from one station in life to a completely different one. Much like adoption is taking a child from hopelessness and homelessness and granting not only home and hope but identity. “Making them stand” in their new personhood as your son or daughter. With God the picture is even greater still. In context and referencing other scriptures, it is more like a king adopting a slave. By adoption the slave, which has no rights, becomes his son or daughter. This is an action no man or woman can take. It is God responding to a sincere heart of faith and repentance. The proof of God’s acknowledgement is the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell the new child of God; bringing the Kingdom to the soul, until the soul comes to the Kingdom.
So in summation from both devotions. We need not be subject to the power of darkness, nor the actions of our own sin nature. We have a hope that allows us to be strengthen with a Godly might, and a forgiveness that covers our humanness. It takes time to mature spiritually, and the best analogy is our children. From nursing infant, to a crawling baby, to a toddler, to a child, there is a maturing, a gaining of strength, confidence, knowledge and ability. The Christian life is no different. We have to crawl spiritually before we can walk, and we need to give grace and forgiveness to each other in our moments of weakness and failure.
Father God,
This freedom in you is not easy. Surrounded by my weaknesses, and temptations from a world that seeks you not, this life of grace takes work. But life is work, so to work towards righteousness is a work that will not go in vain. Let me know your strength and to find this confidence in prayer. I may kneel in fear, but let me rise with might knowing that you have heard and will tend to my requests. Doing that which is best, and according to your will, for me and those whom I love. Amen