Unity

DEVOTION

ROMANS

UNITY

Rom 15:23-29

23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

NIV

We are in the conclusion of the letter with all the personal notes and salutations. There is evidence here that one area gathering, or church, although they have not been called churches nor even Christians at this point. However one group did take up some kind of offering to send it to those they heard were living with materialistic needs. We do not know for sure how that was all communicated, other than through Paul himself. He must have made it known to the believers in Macedonia and Achaia about the poor believers in Jerusalem. But why were they poor? Did not all the believers sell their possessions and all have everything in common? We read about all the activity of the Church in Jerusalem in acts.

Acts 2:42-47

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

NIV

So why then were their poor in Jerusalem? Had the believers already given up on this practice of sharing with one another, having everything in common? Were they now becoming a church where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and need to receive a gift from another region to live? Questions we do not have the answers for. It is not clear what is going on in the church in Jerusalem, however we are sure an offering was taken up by Gentile believers to be given to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. This may be the start of offerings for foreign missions. Can we make any life lessons from this part of the concluding comments of this letter? The early church certainly was not as organized as we are today, we denominational variations with each having their regional and district headquarters that need financial support from the local churches in each region or district to pay all the salaries of staff in those headquarters for all the services they provide. Some have national headquarters and have need of support from the regions or districts. It seems much of our tithe and offerings go to support of other believers, so in that sense we all have everything in common, except we give, and receive. Then we give more to help missionaries to work in foreign lands. Then we give special offerings for either a building program, of repair program of the local church building. Of course much of our tithe provides funds for the local church staff, again for all the services they provide within the local church.  So it would seem we all do have everything in common. When someone is in need, the local church or even the region provides support. Many churches have a benevolent fund set aside for the aid of those in need. We are living in the post-modern era and although we do things a little differently than those early churches, we are doing about the same thing, making sure we all are having enough. Those who make more, give more. Those who make less, give less, and those who cannot provide their own support are provided for. We all belong to each other and help meet the needs of each other is whatever way we can. This is the church at work during Paul’s time and during our time. Let us continue to live in the spirit of unity.

Go Team

DEVOTION

ROMAN
GO TEAM

Rom 15:17-22

17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19 by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. 21 Rather, as it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."   22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

NIV

We are coming to the close of this letter and so we have more personal notes from Paul to the Saints who are in Rome. What we can glean here for our own lives is from the statement that Paul does not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through him. In his cause it is about leading the Gentiles to obey God by what he said and has done. He goes on to say it is by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit. Paul gives all the credit to Christ and the Spirit. This is a clue as to the attitude we should have regarding anything that we accomplish. We do accomplish things, just as Paul did, but it is not just we who get things accomplished. Everything we do for the kingdom of God is through the power of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. In fact everything we accomplish that may not be a direct result on the kingdom of God is through the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit working in and through us. If we start thinking that we are getting everything done that we do, that it is by our own strength, ability, knowledge or whatever, then we have denied Christ and the Spirit. Do we have certain strengths, abilities and knowledge? Absolutely, but it is not by our human effort alone. Are there people who possess strengths, abilities and knowledge by their human effort? Without question, but they do not know Christ nor acknowledge him before men. But we should acknowledge that all we do, all we accomplish is due to the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Prov 3:5-6

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  

NIV

As it is said in many business ventures that employee many people, “there is no I in team” Here is the same idea with all that we do. There is no I in team. We belong to the team of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are a member of their team and as such all the credit goes to the team, not the I. Therefor we should never have a sentence about any accomplishment either directly for the kingdom or indirectly for the kingdom that starts with “I”. We might be able to use “I” when speaking about our life before Christ, as it was nothing but the “I”. However, once we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and he sent the Spirit to dwell within us, there is no more “I”, it is about the “we”, us being the weakest member or merely the vessel with which the team gets things done. So let us remember we can do all things, but through Christ Jesus who gives us the strength.

Phil 4:13

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

NIV

Although the translators insisted the “I” in that sentence, in the Greek it is not there. It read more like; all things are able, have the power through him who gives strength to me. The importance is placed on the giving of power by Christ. Let us live, not to receive praise from men, unless they are praising the work of Jesus in our live, but let us live to give all the glory and honor to Jesus and the Spirit who works in and through us. So we live with the phrase, Go team!

Minister

DEVOTION

ROMANS

MINISTER

Rom 15:14-16

14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

NIV

Surely a personal note to these readers of this letter in Rome, for none of us would meet these requirements to be a minister of Christ to the Gentiles. Yet that is exactly what we are. We minister to each other, we minister the message of the Gospel to each other in the way we treat each other, in brotherly love. We minister to each other because we are full of goodness, we are full of the Holy Spirit who is the personification of goodness. We are complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another again because we are full of the Holy Spirit who leads in into all truth. We may not all write to each other with boldness on some points, but we should either write or speak to each other with boldness, with confidence regarding the truth. It does seem a little odd to consider us doing our priestly duties, for who of us is a priest? Yet, that is precisely who we are.

1 Peter 2:9-10

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

NIV

We are a chosen people a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. We are all priests and should be engaged in our priestly duties of declaring the praises of God to the people in the darkness, so they can come into the light. But the other aspect of being a royal priesthood is that we are an offering accepting to God and we have been sanctified, or made holy, by the Holy Spirit. How could we be anything but made holy because we are full of the Holy Spirit? So let us minister.  

Overflowing Hope

DEVOTION

ROMANS

OVERFLOWING HOPE

Rom 15:7-13

7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name."   10 Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."   11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples."  12 And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."  

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

NIV

It is for certain that Jesus came for the whole world even if he came through the bloodline of a chosen people. But why are they a chosen people? What makes them any better than other people? God could have chosen to send Jesus into the world through the Persian Empire, or the Babylonian Empire or even through the Roman Empire, but he chose a people who were not an empire, but simple a small band of people who started with one man, Abraham and his son Isaac and his son Jacob. From Jacob, who God changed his name to Israel, came a whole nation by that name. Yet Jesus having been born as a human in the ancestral tree of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, died for all mankind, not just Israel. This was already determined by God from the beginning and he spoke through the prophets regarding the Gentiles being offered salvation through Christ. So the Jew and the Gentile must accept one another just as Christ accepted us. But we could also personalize that statement in that we have to learn to accept every believer in the manner Jesus does. The scripture says who so ever believes will not perish but have everlasting life. So we need to accept who so ever. It is not up to us who to accept and who to reject. Sure there may be some people, some believers who are sort of weird, or have different beliefs as we do. There may be some believers who think in terms of old world creation, instead of new world creation. There may be some who do not believe in the evidence of the all the gifts in the church today. Others believe being filled with the Spirit means speaking in tongues. Still others think that gift is from the devil, just as the Pharisees accused Jesus of when he healed people from demon possession. The point is for as many believers there are we might find that many different interpretations of certain scriptures, yet we need to accept each other as Jesus has accepted who so ever believes in him. Therefore we Gentiles need to get along with each other and with all the Jewish believers. In this kind of fellowship, this kind of koinonia , we find the true spirit of joy and peace. The Apostle John makes it clear we are to express this kind of fellowship.

1 John 1:5-7

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

NIV

The Greek word here translated fellowship is this koinonia. It is defined or means to have community, communion, joint participation. One lexicon uses intercourse, another uses intimacy, but both mean this close relationship with each other. Do we really experience that? Do we even try? It seems we all find things to divide us rather than join us to each other. If we are going to accept each other than it has to start with us, with me. There can be not a single shred of prejudice within us. Not one little bit. As we come to that place, and see everyone as Jesus does, then the peace and joy of the Lord can fill our hearts as we trust in him. Then we will overflow with hope by the power of the Spirit. But by our not accepting everyone, not having true fellowship, does that block the joy and peace, and the overflowing hope? It would seem it would. How can we have true joy and peace and overflowing hope when we have some divide between us, some ill feelings, or disagreements, or prejudices, or envy, jealousy, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness within? Are we not supposed to rid ourselves of all that? If we did, than we would be in fellowship and we would be filled with the joy and peace of the Lord and be overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One Heart

DEVOTION

ROMANS

ONE HEART

Rom 15:1-6

15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."   4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Some words of encouragement are in order after all that slamming about eating and drinking. However these words are still about how we interact with each other. So maybe it is more like a continuation of what was said before about eating and drinking. Only this time it is about those who are stronger in their faith bearing with those failings of those who are weak in their faith. This would again mean if those who have the freedom in Christ and know that eating and drinking has nothing to do with living as a believer, should bear with those who are living according to rules or regulations established by men rather than God. We just read the kingdom is not about whether we eat certain foods, like the Jews do, or drink wine. Yet here those who are strong need to not please themselves if they cause those who are weak to stumble. Everyone should make an effort to please the other for their good. Everyone should build each other up. As we live in this manner we do what is good for each other. When Paul is speaking about the scriptures he is making reference to, what we call the Old Testament, the scrolls the Jewish people had in their temples.  Looking ahead to the next section of this letter he quotes from those scrolls, that which was written before the writings like this letter to the Saints in Rome. This confirms the Old Testament was a witness to who God is, including Jesus Christ. Many of what was written in the past was written about Jesus. Paul says it was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we can have hope. This is a key for living for God. We are all on a journey with the Lord. We are all remarkably different in this journey, yet we are also remarkably the same, as we all want live according to the ways of the Lord, we all have the hope of eternal life. If nothing else in our lives has any resemblance to each other, the hope of glory, eternal life, is at the core of our being. We hope everything is true. Some have had incredible first hand experiences with the Lord. Some have experienced divine healings, some divine intervention through a miracle. Some have experienced nothing from the hand of God to prove he is real. Their only hope is in what has been written. Yet we are to have a unity in the spirit. We are to talk with one mind and one mouth about the glories of God, to bring glory to God the Father and to Jesus Christ. Whether we have experienced God first hand or only know what the scriptures say, we are to speak as one people, all believers in Jesus Christ. Those who have experienced God still need the hope as do those who have never had a personal encounter with God. We all walk the same path which is led by our Lord. His word is a lamp onto our feet, showing the way we should go. As many travelers in the Old Testament times would travel in groups, we too should travel in groups. It was rare for one person to go from one city to another alone, which might well bring about some harm to him. It was more customary for people to travel with others, making for a more secure traveling experience. Being alone on the road only made it easier to be attacked by those who would do evil. This truth is shown to us in the story about the Good Samaritan who helped the beaten man along the road. Today it is not much different. If we try to travel the narrow road, following Jesus, all alone, we too are in danger of being attacked by he who does evil. So we travel the road with other believers, we encourage each other, we build each other up in our hope, we give each a sense of unity, of belonging to a group of travelers watching out for each other. We are all on the same road, the same path, and we sing the same tune, all praising God and giving him the glory and honor he so deserves. We are not alone and we cannot live as through we are alone. We live as a unit as one heart and mind. We are not alone, we are one heart. At least that is the way it is supposed to be. One heart.

No Condemning, Just loving

DEVOTION

ROMANS

NO CONDEMNING JUST LOVING

Rom 14:19-23

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

NIV

Paul gets to the final point about this food and wine business. It does come down to being able to enjoy the taste of good food and fine wine as long as we keep our freedom in Christ between God and ourselves. We should not go about teaching this to other believers for their faith may be harmed. On the other hand if we believe eating certain food and drinking wine is bad, then we should keep that between us and the Lord. Either way if we teach total abstinence from certain food and wine, we could destroy the work of God in someone’s life. On the other hand if we taught we are free to eat whatever we want and drink want ever we want, we could destroy the work of God in someone’s life. But we have to see that all food is clean, all food is acceptable as is wine. Here is where transparency among believers may not be as good as it sounds. We do not want a fellow believer to stumble on our account, so let us keep our beliefs regarding these items between God and ourselves. The problem is those who believe drinking wine is bad do promote their beliefs, at least as a denominational stand. Some denominations stipulate what is acceptable and want is not and drinking is an issue. It does seem some of those strict rules have been relaxed, but still there are many believers who feel drinking wine is not right, and by announcing their tee-totaling position could make those who have the freedom in Christ to drink wine feel guilty. It always comes down to this keeping our position on food and beverage a private matter between God and ourselves. But opinions or beliefs in the case of spiritual matters are right for each person as God works in each person’s life. There is not a right or wrong belief in regard to food and drink. The central point is to make every effect which leads to peace and mutual edification. If either belief makes another feel poorly in some way, that is not making an effect toward peace. So this is an area we just have to keep silent about. Those who think drinking wine is fine, drink wine. Those who think it is not fine, don’t drink wine. It goes the same with food.  If those who think all food is good, they should go ahead and eat whatever they want. The same goes for wine, if those who think is alright, they should enjoy their wine. The problem exists in both camps regarding excess. Drinking too much leads to drunkenness which is not alright. Eating too much which leads to gluttony and that is not alright. If the person who drinks a little too much does it in the privacy of their home, no one would know, so that is between them and God. The person who eats too much cannot hide that within the privacy of their home, for it becomes obvious to others that someone is eating too much. Not that all large people are a result of overeating. But again who are either of us to judge the other. So we live and let live in regards to this matter. We simply love one another, build each other up, that is what mutual edification is all about. No, judging. No condemning, just loving.

Fluff and puff

DEVOTION

ROMANS

FLUFF AND PUFF

Rom 14:13-18

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

NIV

We are still with this passing judgement idea, but now there is a different twist to things. There isn’t any food which is unclean in itself, it is about how people regard certain food and drink which makes it either clean or unclean. However, if someone regards something as unclean and is distressed because we eat or drink it, then we should stop eating and drinking it. However, that is certainly a passing judgement on us by them for eating or drinking something they consider unclean. What does it mean that we should not allow what we consider good to be spoken of as evil? On the one hand if a brother thinks of a certain food or drink as evil, then we should not allow him to speak in that manner? No, it seems to imply that if a brother thinks it is evil, then we do not consume that food or drink, at least in their presence, or make it point to argue our case that we do not believe it is evil. The kingdom of God is not about this anyway, we should not make any theological truth out of this matter. However, some denominations do make a point about drinking wine, saying it is evil. Although in the day of Paul it was more about Jews observing the law regarding unclean types of animals, wine was never an issue, they all drank wine. But because we all eat everything, some have to make the issue over the wine. Again passing judgement. However, this distress issue still is front and center. If we enjoy the freedom to drink wine, but it  is causing a brother to stumble in his faith, then we should not drink it. That is simple enough, but we both should know that it is not against God. Abstaining from wine is not a law of God, it is simply a believed interpretation of some scriptures. Right or wrong it is a belief of a brother in Christ. The point is neither of us should allow anything to come between us for the kingdom of God is not about all that. The kingdom is about relationships, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It would seem that there is not this peace and Joy within the riff of denominationalism. How can we live for Christ and be approved by men, when some men do not agree on the meaning of scripture and have such a harden heart to any other meaning of scripture, to a point they split off and form another church? That seems to be more of an issue then what we eat and drink, although over the years some churches have had rules for membership which including abstaining from drink with no abstaining of over eating, alone with abstaining from movies, dancing, rolling rinks, bowling alleys and even mixed bathing. That is boys and girls not going to the beach together. Oh my, we should not see each other in a bathing suit, but today girls appear in public with less than a bathing suit, and some boys have their butts hanging out over their pants and cut up tee type shirts showing more than they should. Enough of this nonsense, let us live to enjoy the life God has given to us, and be open and honest with each other and not get so upset over what one person believes is good and another not good. What is wrong with us, have we allowed the culture to dictate our beliefs over food and drink? Don’t tell me wine in bad when you eat so much it harms your health. Don’t tell me we eat too much when you drink wine. Can’t we just love each other for who we are, brothers and sisters in the Lord? The rest is all fluff and puff.

in or out

DEVOTION

ROMANS

IN OR OUT

Rom 14:9-12

9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11 It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"   12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

NIV

We are still in the admonition about not judging each other based what we eat and drink or not eat or drink, and that we all belong to the Lord. That is the reason for this very reason phrase is being used. The only question that seems to not fit is that Christ is the Lord of both the living and the dead. What does he mean by that? Did he mean those who eat and drink freely are the dead or those who do not eat and drink freely? Most likely the point is that Jesus is the Lord of all people and all people will stand before him and give an account of ourselves. So who are we to pass any kind of judgement on another? We cannot think of others as being less of a believer then we are, such as not exercising their faith as much as we do. We cannot look down on them because they do something we think is an act of not trusting God. This is not to say that we should refrain from speaking the truth, but the truth should always be accompanied with grace. Yet we also should know each person will stand before God and give their account. That should give us more reason to speak the truth with grace when we see a believer behaving in a manner which does not glorify God. It is not that we should judge their behaver, for who are we to judge. So then how do we speak the truth without judging? Should we allow our fellow believers to continue to live in a manner they will be judged by God? The judgement cannot be about every act or though we believers do or have. For we all have sinned, and we all continue in some way to sin for we are not perfect people yet. That is why Jesus died for our sin. In Christ we are perfect, holy and blameless. So the judgement of God is based in whether we are in Christ or not. It is not about if we eat or drink freely or we don’t. It is about being in Christ, being born again, being alive. It is those who have not been born again who are the dead. But Jesus is Lord of them too, which means they will have to stand before God and be judged as not being in Christ and they will be cast into the darkness. This is the account all will have to give. It is not the way Mel Brooks portrays it in his movie, “Defending your life”, in that every act we ever did is shown to us on a big screen and we have to explain ourselves. No, the judgement is about either being in Christ and living or being out of Christ and dying. So who are we to judge who is in or out?

Belong to the Lord

DEVOTION

ROMANS

BELONG TO THE LORD

Rom 14:5-8

5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Here again the difference between the Jew and the Gentile is at the heart of what Paul is talking about. The Jews Sabbath day is from sundown Friday to Sundown on Saturday. The Gentiles must have already decided to celebrate the resurrection day of Jesus which would have been Sunday. This is still the case today, but what matters is that both the Jews and the Gentiles belong to God. They are both convinced their chose of the Sabbath is correct and that is alright because they both celebrate God. Of course we gentiles celebrate Jesus and the Jews do not. We also have then, we included in the drinking of wine, with this abstaining from meat, which would be any unclean animal which the Jews continue to practice, while the gentiles have no such restrictions. Part of this which Paul talks about here in this letter to the Saints who are in Rome, he talked about in his letter to the Galatians. There was a group of Jewish believers who were teaching gentiles in order to become a believer, one must first become a Jew. This would mean circumcision as well as following the practices of Judaism. This would be the abstention of certain meats and celebrating the correct Sabbath day. What does all this have to do with us today? We might see it in light of all the variations of doctrine all the different denominations have. One main difference would be between the Calvinist and the Armenians. The Baptists and the Pentecostals. Then we have all the Evangelicals and the mainline denominations. We find so much to divide us it would seem we are all serving a different God. But the point Paul is making is that we are not serving different Gods, and all the differences are not such a  big deal and we need to see that we all are living unto the Lord. We all gives thanks to God for our lives. We all are also going to die unto the Lord. However we see the scriptures regarding permitting one thing or abstaining from something, we all know that it is the Lord who died on the cross for our sin. We all belong to the Lord. We do not belong to a denomination. We do not belong to the world. We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to the Lord.

The Great Debate

DEVOTION

ROMANS

THE GREAT DEBATE

Rom 14:1-4

14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

NIV

Usually when we think of the great debate we remember a political debate which occurred back in the 1920’s between two men whom had great opposing views which are the roots of our two parties today and books have been written about them. Their names are not very famous to the common person but they are the great debaters. But this section, this passage has created a great debate in the church. Who can eat and drink and what should we not eat and drink. A great stand has been taken over the idea of drinking any adult beverage, even the fruit of the vine, wine. Perhaps the evangelical, holiness, churches are in the center of this hard core stand against drinking wine or anything alcoholic. We cannot be sure exactly what scriptures those opposed to wine use to substantiate their views, but we cannot judge them for choosing to abstain. We also cannot judge those whose views allow them to drink wine. There are scriptures which indicate wine was present in the life of the early church, in fact Jesus turned water into wine, and that was not grape juice, it was fermented wine. The wine steward bears truth to that. The point in that those whose views are abstaining and those whose views allow them the drink wine should have nothing to do with thinking poorly or judging each other. Both views about the allowed type of food and drink are reasonable and each should allow the others views to remain without trying to persuade the other to change their view or judge that view as against the biblical standard for a believer’s life. In the early church wine was not in the center of controversy, pork was. The Jews would not each pork because of the law, while Gentiles had no problem with pork. The modern church does not even consider pork any issue. We have taken a stand on a cultural stigma rather than on the law, or in our case the scriptures. Shame on us for allowing division to exist among us. Shame on us for passing judgement on either side. Can we not see it is about God, and he has not declared drinking wine as sin, nor has he declared abstaining as sin. So let’s get rid of this great debate.

Light and darkness

DEVOTION

ROMANS

LIGHT AND DARKNESS

Rom 13:11-14

11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  

NIV

What is the present time? Did Paul think that Jesus was going to come back in their lifetime? What did he mean about the hour has come to wake up? It is true that each day we live is one more day closer to our salvation being fulfilled. But our salvation is already here, the kingdom of God is here now. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within us. He said unless we are born again we cannot see the Kingdom of God. That makes perfect sense as when we are born again, Jesus sends the Spirit to dwell within us and thus the kingdom of God has come to us in the here and now. Our citizenship is in the Kingdom, not of this world. So then we should live as members or citizens of the kingdom of God rather than as people of the world. The people of the world live in the darkness, there deeds are of the darkness, lacking the light, Jesus. He is the light of the world, the day. He clothes us in the light, as we live in his light we should live according to that light. What happens in the night, should not be done in the daylight. Those deeds done in the darkness which Paul lists, would never be done in the daylight, or would it seem. But he is not talking about the physical night and day, but rather the darkness without Christ, and the daylight of Christ. Were the believers in Rome still engaging in the activities associated with the darkness? We do have to see the world these first recipients of this letter were living in. They did not have the bible. It was not as if when they heard the good news about Jesus they could drive over to the nearest Christian bookstore and get a copy of the bible. They had no other guidance then what they were first told and then this letter. They may not fully understood what it meant to be born again, or filled with the Spirit. They may  have some kind of gathering time, but again, what did they do when they gathered? Did they have a list of do’s and don’ts? Doubtful and was their life more like, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”? Had they come out from that kind of life Paul was describing as deeds of darkness? Having lived in that manner, it would be difficult to discontinue. That may well be why Paul gives them this admonishment. Do we need that admonishment as well? We may not be engaged in all those deeds of darkness Paul mentions, but are we still hanging on to some of the aspects of living in this world, some other deeds associated with the darkness of the world? They are so numerous, we cannot possibly list them all. It is not as though we engage in all of them, but each believer might still be dealing with one or two and having a struggle overcoming them. That is the reason we are told to set them aside and clothe ourselves with Jesus and do not think how we could satisfy that deed of the darkness. That is the key, not to think about it, put it out of our mind. Could it slip back in once in a while? Maybe. But the point is we should not make plans to, thinking how we are going to enjoy whatever that deed is. Even though he lists a lot of sensual deeds, he includes dissension and jealousy. There is a lot to be said about those and deeds like them. Gossip can cause both dissension or/and jealousy along with envy and bitterness, also deeds of the darkness. So we need to remember how we are dressed, and that we live in the light, not the darkness.

No debt

DEVOTION

ROMANS

NO DEBT

Rom 13:6-10

6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."   10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

NIV

Surely in Paul’s day there were no mortgages or car payments to be made, in fact for the most part there were banks, or credit system such as we have today. Everything was done on a cash and carry basis. When we read this we view it in like of our current social economic picture, however, as we know, the original readers lived in a completely different society and their financial was very different. This should give us reason to believe this does not speak directly against owing for a home, car, or other major purchases that we use credit for. The point is we should not cheat whoever we owe a debt to. Pay whoever we owe what is owed. But money is not the only debt which Paul speaks about here. The debt of respect and honor are also mentioned. Who do we owe the debt of respect to? How can we owe someone honor? What about revenue? This would speak to the idea of not begrudging a company the profit it is due. Revenue not only keeps the company in business so we can continue to buy the product they make or sell, but it also pays the wages of people who need that income to live as good a life as they can, like we do. We should respect them just as we would like to be respected, and to honor others above ourselves is spoken of often throughout the scriptures. Love, on the other had is the central theme of all of scripture. The love of God for his creation, Christ dead for us, and no greater love has ever been demonstrated. We are admonished, no commanded to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This requires an honest examination as to how much do we love ourselves. Although we might say we put God first, family second, and whatever else third, do we not really put ourselves first? Isn’t our life more about us than anyone else? It is true we think about God a lot, most of the time we are aware of God or his presence, but we still think about ourselves most all the time. Our life is about us, it is our life. So then how much so we love ourselves? That is how much we need to love others. We would not do any harm to ourselves would we? Well maybe we do in some ways. Maybe what we eat or drink is harming us without us being aware of the harm it does. But that is not the type of harm which is spoken of here. We are not to do any harm to other people, gossiping is harm, bitterness is harmful, all sorts of ill feelings would constitute harm as it stands opposite love. Again we have to defer to God’s definition of love from 1 Corinthians 13. That is how we are to love all others, not just the spouse we stand at the altar with while a friend quotes from that verse. This love should be our lifestyle. We should never owe anyone one bit of love, we are to pay all of it all the time. Then we are fulfilling all the law.

Submit

DEVOTION

ROMANS

SUBMIT

Rom 13:1-5

13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

NIV

No speeding, no breaking the law, no driving without that seatbelt, and in some places no talking on the cellphone while driving. Those are a few of the laws which govern our driving experiences. Of course we follow them just like we follow all the laws of our land. The problem which exists is we do not know every law which governs our land. But as they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse, just as ignorance of the Almighty God is no excuse. But for the most part we obey the law because we are supposed to. Surely we do not steal, murder, or lie about our taxes or even fudge a little. Because we are God-fearing people, we live under the authority of the government. It is a little funny how we do react when we see a state police car sitting along the highway. Even though we are driving within the speed limit, we slow down, everyone slows down, just in case. It is because of a healthy fear of authority, or just the fact it would be so inconvenient to be stopped, or all the results of being ticketed? Nevertheless God says we should not have any reason to fear the authorities, unless we are doing something wrong. So keep that cruise control set at 70 and wiz on by. It would seem speeding would be the only law we might tend to use a little wiggle room on. Some say five over is even alright. Is it? It is so easy to keep up with everyone else who is doing five over, that we don’t even notice, until we see those squad cars. Well there are other laws, civil laws that seem easy enough to follow. But what about laws of humanity. Although the law of our land give us free speech, it does appear that might be offensive at times. Is that alright for us believers to be offensive in our right to free speech? We don’t think so, even if it is the truth. This applies not just in conversation, but now on all the forms of social media. If we have social media friends who do post offensive speech, do we say something, or just let it fly by? Maybe we should defriend them, or at least block their posts. It would seem some people would try to shut down certain types of free speech, such as sharing the gospel message in the public square, calling it hate speech. But we do have free speech, but let us not be offensive in the use of it. We should stick up for God, however. That might cost us something, as it did Paul on occasion. But it is within the limits of the law, to speak up for God. But what about if our employers have rules against that sort of speech? Then what do we do? God said to obey the authorities. He established them. Are our employers’ part of that system? If we agreed to the terms of employment, then we agreed. So let us just remember we do represent our Lord to the lost and dying world. Let us live as his people in every situation of life, but especially in regard to the law.

Overcome

DEVOTION

ROMANS

OVERCOME

Rom 12:17-21

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

NIV

Again, it always seems that Jesus speaks what is opposite of our human nature. When we are hurt by someone it is just natural to want to hurt them back. Who really turns the other cheek? Even turning the other cheek is not what Jesus is talking about here. He is telling us that when someone does something nasty to us, we are to in turn do something nice to them. We are to let God take care of their nasty behavior. Surely another believer would not do anything evil to us. That kind of action would only come from a non-believer and it they remain in that way of life, God will surely deal with them with wrath, not grace. God will repay anyone who does any harm to us because of evil intent. It would seem right to think most non-believers make a conscience effort, thinking, “I am going to do something evil to that Christian today”. But doing evil or behaving badly is just human nature and without the Spirit dwelling within, without being born again, people simply follow their own nature, which is defined by God as evil. He has declared that man’s heart is bent toward evil all the time. Evil being defined as being against God, or defying his authority in their lives. We know some very nice people, who seem to be good people, who do good deeds toward others, but they do not recognize God as the supreme authority in their lives and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are still defined as evil by God and are subjects of his wrath. That is just the facts of life. Nevertheless it does not matter how they are, or what they do, or how they behave toward us, we are to behave in a manner which reflects Jesus. We are to do what is right in the eyes of everybody, reflecting Jesus. Even our nature should be as his, now that we have been born again. We need to make every effort to live in peace with everyone. We should do no harm at all. Jesus told us that we are blessed if we are the peacemaker, making peace our strong suit. But Jesus takes it a step farther then just trying to make peace. He says that we are to go the extra mile and do something good to them. If they are hungry, feed them, if they are thirsty give them a drink. This could be seen as both in the physical or spiritual. Yes, actually give them food and drink, showing kindness and compassion on them in their time of need. That would be contrary to thinking, “Aha, serves you right for being so nasty”, when we see them having a need for food or drink and not being able to get it themselves. Jesus finishes this type of attitude we are to have with the idea of overcoming evil, instead of being overcome by evil. This has everything to do with who influences our attitude and behavior. Are we subject to the influence of the Spirit or of self? We do not need to be influenced by the bad behavior of others, the follow the crowd mentality. In order to be overcome by evil all we have to do is allow our old nature to have it way. Even though we have been born again, that old nature which was supposed to die, keeps popping back up, it refuses to stay dead. It is the war that wages within us, which Paul speaks about that in his spirit he desires to do that which is right, but in the members of his body he does what is not right. It is the war between our human nature and the nature of the Spirit which battles within. We are supposed, with the help of the Spirit, overcome the human nature, the evil, with the Spirits nature, goodness, kindness, gentleness, love, joy, peace, patience and self-control. When we bear those fruit we are indeed giving the non-believers something to eat and drink, feeding their spirit as well as their bodies. No matter how others behave, we are to overcome evil with good.

Harmony

DEVOTION

ROMANS

HARMONY

Rom 12:14-16

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

NIV

The life of a believer has to be different than what comes naturally to the human spirit. When someone mistreats us, we bless them. When someone hurts our feelings, we bless them. It would seem that we really do not experience persecution like Paul did on several occasions in his travels. He was beaten, sort of tarred and feathered type treatment, run out of town on a rail. But we might well be mistreated or made fun of for believing. Faith in God is not accepted in some places. Our beliefs are shunned, and some have spoken out against our faith, saying we hate all they want to do such as woman’s rights, gay rights, black lives matter, and a host of other offenses against God. Some disrespect the flag, and disrespect God, so we bless them, we do not curse them. Then there is this rejoicing with others who rejoice. When someone experiences a blessing from God, a healing, a provision, a windfall profit, or some other blessing from God and they rejoice, we should rejoice with them. This requires absolutely no envy or jealousy which might be the human nature that resides within. Then mourning with those who mourn covers the same ground. This is having empathy rather than compassion. The whole idea is not to be self-centered but to put others first, before self. To be invested in each other’s life. To see people as Jesus would. This rejoicing and mourning, being invested in each other is in fact living in harmony with one another. The Greek word"another" is slightly different then live in harmony. The Greek says, as the same one another mind, with the word “mind” meaning to have a sentiment, opinion, to be disposed, to interest oneself in. When all that is put in context with same, it does mean harmony. To live in harmony, to have the same opinions or disposition, or sentiment about Christ and his church. This would speak against division, disharmony, which all too often we hear about congregations splitting over all sorts of crazy reasons. Many of those splits are led by one person, in many cases a leader in the church. How bizarre is that? The very ones who should promote harmony cause disharmony. Could it be about pride or greed, thinking more of oneself than one should? Only God knows and we can be sure he does not approve. We have to make sure we do not think more highly of ourselves for any reason. We cannot shun people because they are not exactly like we are, not having the same education, social status, or the same financial position. There is no reason to have conceit about anything we do or have. Any of that would lead to disharmony as well. So let us live and let live, just loving each other for who they are. Let us live in harmony.                   

What can we do

DEVOTION

ROMANS

WHAT CAN WE DO

Rom 12:13

Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

This is one more thing we are supposed to be, liberal with our wealth. We spent time with love being sincere, hating evil, clinging to good, being devoted to each other, serve the Lord with zeal, and being joyful, patient and faithful, and to add to all that we have to give to the needs of other believers. The early church sure took that concept literally, selling land, possessions, and having all things in common. It was sort of like a commune. Although we would have to believe they still all had their own homes and sources of income. If they all sold everything then no one would have anything and they all would become in need. Nevertheless, they took this concept to heart. We have accounts of the early church in acts, and we are given an insight as to how they lived sharing with each other.

Acts 4:32-37

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

NIV

The church of today does not resemble that early church very much. If people are selling their land, or possessions and bringing all the proceeds into the church no one knows about it. Of course we do not have too many poor believers who are in need either, at least in the local church we attend. That seems to be the example we see in acts, is the having in common among the local assembly. They were not yet giving to missions or sharing with God’s people all over the world. At some time later we know Paul took up offerings from one community of believers for the saints in another area, so missions did get started in the early church, but this sharing of resources was more common in the early church then in the post-modern church we attend. Most of our giving goes to paying the staff of the church and maintaining or expansion of the building and staff as the numbers of people increase. Those little churches that do not experience expansion of numbers, but instead decrease and soon just dwindle to near nothing, there resources but all dried up. What do we do that resembles anything like what this early church understood about sharing with God’s people who are in need? Surely we all look to our own needs and some of us give our tithe to the church, to pay the church needs. Some of us give a little more for missions once and a while, but that is about it. Then there are those special needs, for expansion, or repairs so we pledge we will give a little more for those needs of the church. But what if there are people in need? Do we even know about them? Everyone keeps their finances pretty close to their vest, which is being very private about their wealth or lack of it. So how do we follow this concept of sharing with God’s people in need? What constitutes a need? There are many outreach ministries which provide food to people, but are they God’s people, believers in need? This command, if we can say it is a command is about sharing with other Christians, not about outreach ministries. This is about believers having all things in common, the local church sharing together so everyone has what they need. It seems we just don’t do that one thing very well. Maybe it has been lost over the years. Should we be doing it? Does God intent we should live like that now? What would it look like in our modern culture? At times we have been impressed to give a certain among to someone, anonymously of course. But that is on rare occasions, not our normal day to day life. If we are to share, we are to do it secretly, as in our giving we are not to let our right hand know what our left hand is doing. So we have to leave it up to God to impress upon us when we need to share and with whom. What else can we do?

Joyful Patient Faithful

DEVOTION

ROMANS

JOYFUL PATIENT FAITHFUL

Rom 12:9-13

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

Joyful, patient and faithful are the subject of the moment, or we could focus on hope, affliction and prayer. Is it possible to lose hope, or to loss our joy because our hope is waning? How can our hope wane? That would seem unrealistic to even think our hope would diminish in the least bit, but the joy part is another thing. Of course we are always bombarded with supposed evidence that there is no one in whom we should have hope. We are also witnesses to believers who experience difficult situations. That age old saying about why do bad things happen to good people, is presented in that question, “why does God allow……”? Because we do not have the answer, we might allow that to steal our joy. What about those times when we feel things are not going the way we think they should? When we get upset, or get our feelings hurt, or experience the aches and pains that accompany age? Do we allow those things to steal our joy? Well, we have an excuse because it is someone else’s fault. No, it’s our fault, we give up the joy, we want to feel miserable, and it is our choice to remain joyful in hope or not. We should always have the joy that comes from expectation of what is to come, our eternal life. This affliction or tribulation, what other translations say, is more than likely referring to difficult times, rather than the period known as the tribulation. That is why affliction seems to explain the experience better. But even to be afflicted isn’t really what this Greek word means. To be under pressure, to be pressed or experience anguish. But why would we want to have anguish? Why would we want to allow ourselves to be burdened? Sometimes things just happen outside our control, but then it is time to be patient. Those times will pass, things will get better. We just have to wade through it. There is always an exit to a tunnel, but not a cave. Yet there is a way out of any situation and sometimes it is just a matter of being patient until we find that exit. Impatience only makes the matter worse, we get all wound up about what is happening in our life that we lose our patience. No, we have to remain steadfast and calm even in the storm, for we know Jesus will calm the storm in our life. That is another reason to remain hopeful as well and faithful in prayer. If we give up on prayer we have lost contact with our reason for hope. Although it seems that most prayer is about asking for God to do something for us, heal us, help us, or give us something and then we say thank you and leave. But prayer is nothing more then conversation with God, two way conversation, so we need to just shut up and listen. God has something to say. We always hear people say, God will either say, “yes, no, or not at this time”. But that is really limiting God to a short one word answer. Surely God is capable of longer sentences. We just have to be patient, listening and he will speak his truth into our heart. It is so difficult to get a word in edgewise with a person who just keeps talking and talking, babbling on and on. That defines most of our prayer time. We just keep babbling on and on about our needs, our wants, our troubles. Yes, God said to cast all our cares on him. Jesus said come on to me all you that are weary, or heavily burdened, I will give you rest. Well if we cast our cares why bother to reel them back in? It is alright to cast them, but then we need to see what God has to say about them. Listening is the best part of prayer and that we need to be faithful in. Let us remember to be joyfully patient in our faithfulness.

With Zeal

DEVOTION

ROMANS

WITH ZEAL

Rom 12:9-13

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

Never is a very strong word. In the Greek it is more of a negative statement as in do not be lacking, or slothful, but instead be fervent in spirit in serving the Lord. One of the examples of living with zeal is how Paul persecuted the church before he met Jesus. Then after he met Jesus he lived with zeal in bringing the good news to as many people as he could. Zeal is also a very strong word denoting fervent behavior. That is not being lazy or slothful in serving our Lord. That would mean we need to keep on keeping on and keeping on speedily. Living the Christian life is not all about us, but all about God. Sometime we get so introspective in our walk, thinking about what we are not supposed to do and what we should be doing in regard to sin. We get back to the list of do’s and don’ts and think as long as the do’s out weight the don’ts, and that we are getting better at being a good Christian we doing alright. After all we go to church every Sunday, we don’t miss unless there are extenuating circumstances. But that is not serving the Lord with zeal, with spiritual fervor. What does spiritual fervor look like? What does serving the Lord look like? Our scholars want to insert business in the mix, which we should not be slothful in business, as the KJV translates this verse using business, but the Greek word simply means with speed, diligent and in the context it is about serving the Lord. We are to have zeal for God, earnestness, diligent in our service to him. But still that does not answer what serving him looks like. Perhaps we could incorporate the business of serving the Lord and then we are not to be slothful in the business of serving the Lord, but serve him with zeal, enthusiasm, with speed. We are to be excited about being a Christian, filled with the joy of the Lord. There are many ways of serving our Lord. We each have been given our individual assignments, so to speak. He has called us to be a part of his kingdom, but not as quests, or visitors, but rather as family, all doing our part for the betterment of the family. How we serve him is up to him, not us. Just as the Father in a family has the ultimate authority in a family deciding who does what. The Father has ultimate authority over us, deciding how we serve him. It is not our choice, but his. When we decide than it is about us, what we want to do in serving him, we are focused on us, the way we want to serve, but God must decide. He calls us to a particular service, whether that is being a big shot or a little shot in the body. It does not even matter how smart we are, or how much wealth we have, it depends on what God has for us to do, how he wants to use us to further his kingdom. Just reading his word and trying to abide by all the rules for living is not serving him with zeal. That is still having self-focus, self-centered rather than God-centered. Serving the Lord with zeal means we get going, doing that which we are called to do, not matter how long it takes, or what it takes. We might have all sorts of training, skills, or education in one area of life and God might just decide to call us to a completely different area of service, so we cannot say it is because of our skills, talents, education, but it is because the Spirit gives us the ability, the gift to do that which God requires  to further his kingdom. Whatever we are to do, we are to do it with all we have, giving it all we are, not half-hearted or try to fit serving him into our own daily schedule. It would seem we should fit our daily schedule around him, and with zeal.

Each other

DEVOTION

ROMANS

EACH OTHER

Rom 12:9-13

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

 And now we look at being devoted to one another in brotherly love and honor one another above yourselves. This is instruction as to how we are to behave as well as how we are to think regarding others in the body of Christ. There is a difference in our relationship within other believers than with the rest of the world. However, we are not confident the word devoted is totally the right chose for translating the Greek. Other translations use kindly affection and that seems to line up better with the meaning of the Greek word. However, it still would mean that with kindly affection love each other with brotherly love. Treat other believers as dear brothers and sisters. This would assume that in the nature family settings, brothers and sister have a kindly affection toward each other. Sometime in the natural family setting we find siblings may not have much affection for each other, yet as they say, blood is thicker than water. For the most part when it comes to family, we stick together, sticking up for each other. Even in cases of siblings having only one parent in common, there is a closest in the relationship that does not exist with none siblings. Yet this is the type of closeness we are supposed to have with others in the body of Christ. That seems nearly impossible in the post-modern church. It would seem totally impossible in those mega churches for the most part we do not even know every other believer. That might even happen in the smaller churches as we may only see each other on Sunday morning when we smile, shake hands, and then go our separate ways. There might be a few that we get to know a little bit more, like in a small group or Sunday school class. But still we do not spend much time, if any, outside of church developing deeper relationships. Maybe some do, but some are also more private individuals and do not share much of their personal life in any interactions with other believers. So, how do we be devoted, or have kindly affection toward other believers? What does that look like? We would think it would include never saying or thinking anything badly about them. Instead we would always see them as one of our own siblings, having the same parent in common. This common parent in the Lord God Almighty. We are all his children and as such should treat one another as loving siblings. This goes hand in glove with honor one another above ourselves. That should be how siblings are supposed to act toward each other. We know not all families may have that kind of relationship, but we believers do not have any other manner toward each other because we are instructed by God. If we do not prefer the other believer before ourselves then what would we call it? Sin! If we are selfish it is sin. If we behave poorly toward each other, sin. If we gossip about each other, sin. If we have do not forgive any offense, sin, If we harbor any ill feelings, envy, jealously, bitterness, it is sin. This kindly affection as a brother or sister and thinking of them before ourselves may be one of the more difficult ways to live. We say we are believers, but do we actually carry out all the instructions God has for us to live with each other? This would mean there would not be any division within the church. That is a hard pill to swallow, so to speak, because it seems that exists all too often, and churches split up because of some ill feelings within. It even happens in believing families, spouses dividing over ill feelings. it would seem the more intimate we are with each other the more we see the others faults and then it makes it more difficult to prefer them over ourselves. We have to put this to rest. It would appear we have no other choice but to love each other as Jesus loves us. It comes down to not looking at others to see if they are loving us, but to look at ourselves and see if we are loving them. We cannot judge them as to how they treat us, we must judge ourselves as to how we treat them.

Evil and Good or Hate and Cling

DEVOTION

ROMANS

EVIL AND GOOD

OR

HATE AND CLING

Rom 12:9-13

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

Hate evil and cling to what is good is our next thought for the day. At first it would seem to speak broadly about evil and good. But there are two ways in which we could dig a little deeper and more specific about these two opposites. First, we could see it as to what occurs within our being. Because Paul made that statement about when he wants to do good, evil is right there with him is the reason we think about it being within us.

Rom 7:19

9 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do

Rom 7:21-23

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members

NIV

Then it would made sense to hate the evil which is at work in our members and cling to whatever good there is in our spirit. It seems that is the fact of life. We are not perfectly good, nor are we perfectly evil. We have been born again, at least our spirit has been born again and the when we accepted Jesus into our lives, it means then he sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, as we were baptized with the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit does not dwell in the members of our body, but in our spirit. Our body will die, but not our spirit as it dwells with the Holy Spirit. So we hate the evil in our members, but cling to the good in our spirit. Secondly, we could see evil and good as two individuals, Satan and Jesus. Hate Satan and cling to Jesus. Although we are to love our enemies, it would seem natural to hate Satan for the only thing he has to offer us is death. It is true for a short time we might have some pleasure from his hand, but that is a deception, just as he offered a pleasure to eve.

Gen 3:6

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

NIV

That is what Satan offered to her through a deception and that is what he has to offer to us, accepting his offer brings death along with it. So it would be right to hate Satan, hate what he stands for, hate the idea of the evil he wants to embed within us. The pleasure lasts only for a brief lifetime, death last forever. Clinging to Jesus brings us life, both life in the here and now, but also life eternal. Jesus is good, he is the personification of all that is good. He is the good news. When the things of this world, the attractions of the prince of this world are offered to us, we must cling to Jesus, the King of Kings. The King always trumps a prince, has all the authority over a prince and ultimately will send that prince and all who have accepted the prince’s reign in their lives into the lake of burning sulfur, into outer darkness. So let us cling to Jesus.