7/12/13

7/12/13

'God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David's family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.....For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."' (Romans 1:2-5, 16, 17 NLT)

I love the book of Romans. When I was growing up, I was involved in a group called AWANA. In this group, I was strategically taught God's word by memorizing scripture. It was an amazing thing. One of the verses that I can still quote you today comes from this passage. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believeth." - Romans 1:16 KJV. Anyway, on to why I love Romans. Paul wrote Romans in such a way that he didn't write any other book. Probably the second and third most well-known verses in the Bible (3:23 and 6:23) are in the book of Romans. But Paul gets down and dirty with Romans. Check out 5:8 - "But God demonstrates His love for us in this: that when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Paul is more strait forward in this book than any other. We are sinners, and fall short, and Christ died and we are made free through his blood. That is the long and short of it. Christ died for my sin. He did it so that all who are lost and bound in the chains of their sin can be set free. He did it for you and for me. I love the simplicity in which Paul is able to paint a picture of something so complex. He sums up the plan of a creator that set these actions into motion before he created time in this: God loves us, and sent His Son to take the penalty for our sin. That's it. Point blank. Point made. The question is: is the point taken? Do we really get how simple it is? Not that the Christ-follower's life is simple or easy, because it is not. But redemption is simple. Christ did it all. We don't have to do anything. We don't need to carry our sin. We can be free. But do we really believe that? Why do we still carry the weight of our sin when we claim that We have given it to Him? Could it perhaps be pride? Could it be the need for control? Do we hold onto our sin because we feel like we need to have control of something? Why can't we just accept this free gift?



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