Only Faith

DEVOTION
ROMANS
ONLY FAITH
Rom 9:22-33

22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:
"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one," 26 and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality." 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, NIV
What a powerful section of this letter, which has caused so much confusion within the body of Christ, and I for my own self at times. I dare not remove one from the context in order I may support the way I think, but at the same time, I do think. Some for Glory and some for destruction sure sounds like He determined who for each, but I believe this simply is not consistent with His character. No, it is a simply fact for my spirit, my mind, to comprehend. He has determined the course or action He will take for those who choose Him and for those who do not. Here it is Israel who has rejected Christ, and the Gentiles have accepted Him. Although God wants all men to be saved and He certainly had picked Israel to reveal Himself to the world, they refused to accept Him. So those people who were not the ones He picked to reveal himself in, now are. And how wonderfully did He do that. The truth is, faith in the key, it is right there. How can I ever gained righteousness by pursuing after it? I simply cannot. As hard as I attempt to be ‘good’ and ‘pure’, it will never be good enough or pure enough. Israel stumbled over Christ, because He was about faith not works, and they could not understand that. I pray I never lose sight of that fact, faith not works. How easy it is to incorporate ‘being good’ into a way of life, thus thinking I am proving or improving my standing before God. But none of that has any bearing on my standing before God. Being honest, admitting my weakness, admitting my faults, my sin, my complete inability to achieve any kind of righteousness is a start. Then seeing my only and the one true hope is faith in Christ. He is my righteousness, He gives me right standing before God, and it is only by faith. Thank you Jesus, Happy Birthday!