Edifying One Another

One theme I have noticed in the readings lately is the importance of building each other up.

Going back to Romans, Paul discusses this towards the end of the book. In Rom. 14, when talking about eating meat and observing days, he says "therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this -- not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way" (14:13). He goes on to say "For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died." (14:15) Finally, he says in 14:19, "So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another."

In Rom. 15, he continues this idea, saying we should focus less on pleasing ourselves and instead follow Christ's example: "Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification." (15:2). In Rom. 16, Paul lists several people who have helped him, helped other Christians, and helped the church in general.

He comes back to this in 1 Cor. 8, where he again stresses that we should not do anything that would make someone else stumble, but instead ought to live in way that edifies others. Today we don't have the problem of eating meat sacrificed to idols, but the same issue arises in other ways. I know there have been times where I was convinced it was okay to do something and could not understand why others did not agree. That is the wrong attitude to have. It would be better to do whatever is necessary to help the other person. As Paul explains, it is more important to have love than to know what's right in every argument. (1 Cor. 8:1-2).

Romans: tough, but good

Romans is a difficult book, but I have enjoyed starting our daily Bible reading with it this year. There is definitely a lot to learn in these chapters. I like the way the book ends with lists of greetings to and from other Christians. It's clear that the early Christians cared about each other and that just reinforces the points made throughout the book. We're all sinners and we all stumble. But we're here to help and encourage each other so we can all continue serving God and get to heaven, despite these shortcomings.

How to Live Right

Romans 12 is one of my favorite chapters, I have almost the entire thing highlighted in my Bible.

It starts off with a couple of those "stick to your mirror" verses that we need to remember every day as we live in a world that will try to make us conform if we're not focused on God and growing spiritually. Then we see that we all have different strengths and we need to find ways to serve God with what we have while respecting and encouraging others. The chapter ends with very practical instructions in v9-21. Some that really stand out to me:

Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. - Don't just not participate in sin, but hate it and what it does in our lives. Fill your life with good things to resist temptation.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. - We're a family and we need to know each other, so we can be supportive in good times and bad.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Don't get caught up in the world, but let the love of God show through your good actions in tough situations.

Romans 6

Thanks to Candace & Kendra for setting this up for another year!

In Romans 6 Paul deals with an issue that some people raised. People were saying that sin is okay because God loves to give his grace and mercy and the more that people sin the more God gets to display his mercy and show how forgiving he really is. Paul says that this is wrong. The Lord has always wanted obedience over sacrifice. We know that the Lord does make provisions to forgive his people of sin, but his people should not be sinning willfully or habitually. Yes, from time to time we may slip up and sin, but that isn't supposed to be the normal for us. Paul says clearly that we should not continue to sin that grace may abound.

Another topic addressed in this chapter is that of being slaves to sin or to righteouness. Sometimes christians may think that being a child of God restricts or limits us because we can't participate in many of the activiteis the world can. However, the bible argues that not being a child of God actually makes one a slave to sin. Doing God's will and trusting in him actually makes us free. John 8:32 says "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Do Not Waver

Paul uses Abraham's example of faith in chapter 4 to help explain & I love the way he brings it all together at the end.

Romans 4: 20-21
²⁰ No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹ fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Abraham consistently trusted God & never doubted He would fulfill his promise. Despite various hurdles he faced, his faith was strengthened & a reminder that he must rely on God. These verses should encourage us to cling to God's word & stand firm in our faith. Look to God, obey Him, & amidst the waiting our faith will increase.

God's Kindness

Romans 2:3-4 jumped out at me in today's reading "Do you suppose, O man - you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself - that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

God is love, but He does not show kindness by letting us do whatever we want without judgement. I think that's a very human idea of kindness and it's definitely something that we hear about with "once saved, always saved" or people saying that God is a loving God, so He won't judge them for xyz sin.

God is on another level. He offers a much greater kindness - the opportunity to serve Him and have an eternal home in heaven. We need to make sure we're taking Him up on the opportunity to live a Christian life every single day and be on guard against the hypocrisy that we see throughout this chapter.

Romans 1

This chapter contrasts the righteous v. the unrighteous, and the difference is faith. Our faith allows us to look at the creation (visible) and have faith in the Creator and his attributes (invisible). Those lacking faith use a variety of explanations to explain the complexity of nature. Reading this passage reminds me of Hebrews 11:1-3. I love the word choice used by the ESV in verse 1: "...the conviction of things not seen." Without faith to convict us that God is behind everything, we would be like those in Romans 1:21. Hebrews 11:3 says that through faith we can understand that what we see was not made out of things that are visible.

Those without faith suppress the truth (1:18) and exchange the truth about God for a lie (1:25). In this world we are constantly in contact with those who do not honor God or give any value to His word. One way that we can be on guard and not be influenced by unrighteousness is to know His word. The more of His word that we have in our hearts, the stronger our faith will grow and we will have a defense against the unrighteousness that is around us.