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.

Fresh Start 2k12

Hey friends,

With a new year it's time to start another daily Bible reading. We started the blog last year to help us share our thoughts & to hold one another accountable to making God's scripture a part of our daily lives. Even though posts tapered off about halfway through the year we thought we'd give it another go & do better to encourage one another in 2012.

Excited about the books in this year's plan. Most days are only a chapter so take advantage of the shorter reading to reread & really meditate on His word.

You will find the plan just to the right side of this page. Let me know if you have trouble accessing the blog...some of you will need me to resend the invite so you can post. Just send me your email!

:) Kendra & Candace