Speaking truth

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

SPEAKING TRUTH

Rom 9:1-5

9:1 I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

NIV

We can understand in some sense the sorrow and unceasing anguish that was in Paul's Heart. It is true the Jewish people have been given the adoption of sons, they are God’s chosen people to be the ones to have the divine glory. They are the people God chose to establish the covenant with and they were the one who received the law. God directed them to build his temple, first the one in the wilderness, the tabernacle which God gave Moses the exact plans for, down to the very detail. Then he directed David to collect all the materials needed for a more permanent temple in Jerusalem, but because David was a man of war he waited until Solomon was old enough to build it, again under the direction and plans of God, down to the last detail. God then gave the Jews all the directions for temple worship and all the promises. They are the line from which God sent Jesus to be born in the form of man. How much Israel should praise the Lord, and yet much of Israel is like most of the world, humanistic. Having been they we have seen their shame, and they're being inattentive to the things of God, except for the case of tourism, which generates a great deal for their materialistic economy. It seems to us all they did was pander to the Christian world, without sensing that deep commitment to God themselves. Yet, we see that same thing happening in this Gentile world in which we live. Many may mouth some words about religious matters, appearing to be religious people, but have not understood the need to be born again, to render their old self died with Christ and resurrected into a new life in Christ. Materialism has gripped the world. It makes a great deal of fuse over Christmas, but because we use that time to celebrate the birth of Jesus because they know people will spend gobs of money on all the trappings connected with Christmas, it is almost disrespectful. They make no fuss about Easter, no grand displays, no ornaments celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Some garden centers might offer Easter lilies, but nothing like that fanfare display for Christmas. They make a bigger deal and more profit from Halloween than Easter. It is sad to watch the world mistreat Jesus, using him as a tool for materialistic gain, without even mentioning him in the process. We understand the sorrow and anguish Paul had, for it hurts our hearts to watch this world walking against the very truth of God. Paganism has been on a rampage against God. Yes, many of us have come out of that life and died to be resurrected into a life in Christ, filled with truth and grace. It makes us think that because we are circumcised of the heart, by God, that now we are the true Israel, who all will be saved. Because of faith, we now are the descendants of the promise, given to Abraham, that our faith is rendered to us as righteousness because we believe God. How can we speak anything but the truth because the Spirit dwells within and witnesses to our spirit, and the words we speak are confirmed by the Spirit?