Christ’s death paid for the redemption of all of creation. Creation too gets to join God’s children in their glorious freedom from death and decay. The earth can’t be free from its curse until people are, because sin destroys, and the earth has suffered from that destruction. Creation is eagerly awaiting our glorified state so it can experience the glory of redemption too.

Believers, along with creation, groan for the day they will be released from the suffering, which is caused by sin. That will include new bodies that we wait for with hopeful patience.

One place of hope is that the Spirit Himself intercedes for the saints, and He does it perfectly because He knows the perfect will of God.

We’re also told Jesus intercedes for us. If we have God praying for us on two fronts, how could we fail? But we don’t leave the job to them. We’re told to pray and to pray without ceasing. We participate in the task. Pray with the Spirit. Join Him in His work of prayer.

According to this perfect will of God, that the Spirit is praying for our lives, God puts everything together in a way only He could, in that it all works for our good, for those of us who love God. Why? Because we are called according to His purpose and He’s perfectly working out His purposes in and through our lives.

God chose all who would believe before He created a single person, and He brings His work in them to completion. The image of Christ will be formed in us and we will be glorified because we are justified by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We owe God everything. He did it all. He does it all. He will finish it all. Our salvation is His work. Our job is to choose Him, to call on Him, to rely on Him for our salvation. To live by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

We can stand firm in faith because as Paul points out, the God who did not spare His Son, but gave Him up to die, will not hold back anything from us. He freely gives us all things.

We stand assured in our salvation if our hearts are given over to love God. What could stand against us? We have God on our side.