SCRIPTURE: Romans 1
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” [John 10:9-10]
Believing in Jesus as God’s human-divine Messiah is the only way to experience this full, God-empowered, God-blessed life.
This is what inspires Paul as he writes this letter to Roman Christians.
He begins with sharing His passion for God, for Jesus and for the good news message of Jesus for all people.
He is so eager to share this with those in Rome, and is confident that this message can radically transform their lives.
Life to the full, the life of a sheep under the good shepherd [Psalm 23, John 10], can only be found through repentance (admitting our sin) and faith (trusting in Jesus for salvation and life) and obedience (living the God-life, the full life).
But why do so few people experience this full life, even Christians?
Because the thief has deceived them into forgetting about God (or marginalizing His place in their lives) and instead looking for life in this world.
When we turn to possessions or pleasures or popularity (or whatever else) for life, we are rejecting God as the source of life.
Even though created reality itself points to the existence of God and of good (this explains why all cultures and religions know about ‘god’ and have a sense of morality), by seeking life elsewhere, we lose the very thing we seek.
We become desperate slaves, we become darkened in our thoughts and hearts, we become miserable.
Paul describes what happens when people’s hearts turn away from God towards selfish living.
God allows us to experience the life we seek, and to discover how empty and destructive it is.
The wages or consequences of sin (choosing any other way but God’s way) is death.
Not just spiritual and physical but emotional, mental, behavioural, social – and ultimately eternal death.
Look at the list of the fruit of a sin-directed life [Romans 1:28-31] and compare that to the fruit of a God and good-seeking life [Galatians 5:16-26].
Now can you sense the reason for Paul’s passion?
He wants to share the wonderful gift of ‘life to the full’ that is available through Jesus.
He knows that the message of Jesus can lead people into the very happiness and joy and peace that they seek – in wrong places.
It is the power of God for the salvation of all people, in all places!
PRAYER:
Lord, remind me again how full and complete life can be with You at the center. Show me also the misery that follows when I choose other paths.
Who am I and why am I here – are questions asked again and again in the classroom. Paul says it all. I am a servant of Christ Jesus set apart for the Gospel to live for Jesus. And being part of the family, the members pray and encourage one another to help spur one another to live their faith from day to day. All for Jesus and living for Jesus each day. LightShine.
But man has exchanged the Light for their own light and wandered from the way going their own way. Paul describes what happens when men follow the false light – something we read time and time again in God’s Word when man has followed his own way. ‘They exchanged the Truth for a lie’ and walked in the darkness towards death. All kinds of sins followed because they approved their own ways. Paul describes the road not to be taken.
Help me each day Lord to LightShine and be on fire for You – never ashamed of the Gospel. Today God Is First as You are each day. Help me along my way to walk with You in all I do and say. May others see You in me.
All that I am I owe to Thee,
Thy wisdom, Lord, has fashioned me;
I give my Maker thankful praise,
Whose wondrous works my soul amaze.
Ere into being I was brought,
Thine eye did see, and in Thy thought
My life in all its perfect plan
Was ordered ere my days began.
Thy thoughts, O God, how manifold,
More precious unto me than gold!
I muse on their infinity,
Awaking I am still with Thee.