Romans 1
Who is Paul? - Who are you?
In his opening sentence Paul states his identity - "a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle - set apart for the gospel of God". Now we all know that Paul has lots of credentials as a Jew and a Roman citizen (Acts 22), but I found it very interesting that Paul, using Old Testament language by referring to himself as a servant, stakes his claim and identity in his faith in Christ Jesus. Choosing this identity to introduce himself instead of first referring to his Roman citizenship was unheard of at the time. For Paul to make this claim he had to totally renounce allegiance to anyone or anything else but Jesus, his beloved Master. He completely accepted and lived out his life, by faith, that the only way of salvation was given freely through God's gracious gift. He realized that while the laws he memorized before age 5 gave valuable principles and guidelines, they were actually given to teach us about the coming of the Messiah and Jesus was Him. He preached it, lived it, was beaten for it, but never denied it. So all this just made me start to take inventory of what other masters I might be identifying with. There can be nothing above or before my recognition of Jesus as Lord of my life. I have to consciously turn away from any conflicting interests, and renounce anything that may have been more important to me in the past. I pray for all of us that as we go out into the day we remember our first Love, in Whom our true identity rests. I pray we are not lukewarm about our faith. I pray that, like Paul, the power of the Holy Spirit rests upon us and by faith we recognize that we are set apart to serve in love. I pray we persevere, and that we are effective servants for God's Kingdom and are used mightily for His Glory.
Randi
Who is Paul? - Who are you?
In his opening sentence Paul states his identity - "a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle - set apart for the gospel of God". Now we all know that Paul has lots of credentials as a Jew and a Roman citizen (Acts 22), but I found it very interesting that Paul, using Old Testament language by referring to himself as a servant, stakes his claim and identity in his faith in Christ Jesus. Choosing this identity to introduce himself instead of first referring to his Roman citizenship was unheard of at the time. For Paul to make this claim he had to totally renounce allegiance to anyone or anything else but Jesus, his beloved Master. He completely accepted and lived out his life, by faith, that the only way of salvation was given freely through God's gracious gift. He realized that while the laws he memorized before age 5 gave valuable principles and guidelines, they were actually given to teach us about the coming of the Messiah and Jesus was Him. He preached it, lived it, was beaten for it, but never denied it. So all this just made me start to take inventory of what other masters I might be identifying with. There can be nothing above or before my recognition of Jesus as Lord of my life. I have to consciously turn away from any conflicting interests, and renounce anything that may have been more important to me in the past. I pray for all of us that as we go out into the day we remember our first Love, in Whom our true identity rests. I pray we are not lukewarm about our faith. I pray that, like Paul, the power of the Holy Spirit rests upon us and by faith we recognize that we are set apart to serve in love. I pray we persevere, and that we are effective servants for God's Kingdom and are used mightily for His Glory.
Randi
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