Romans 13

13 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.The authorities that exist have been established by God.

This one just caught my eye because it seems wrong.  Our governing authorities today it seems are working to take God out of the equation.  One of these verses that I will need some help with someday.

the easy part of the chapter is to love others, it is the crisp answer to fulfilling the 10 commandments.

that is all.
knut

Romans 12

Again, I read from the message version.  Here's how it opens.

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

that is as clear of direction as I've read  That is COMPLETELY tactical.  I love it.
I think I should write this on my mirror, so I see it every morning.

I'm out in Vegas next week with SEMA.  So, I'll catch up when I get back.

tp

Romans 11

19-20 It’s certainly possible to say, “Other branches were pruned so that Icould be grafted in!” Well and good. But they were pruned because they were deadwood, no longer connected by belief and commitment to the root. The only reason you’re on the tree is because your graft “took” when you believed, and because you’re connected to that belief-nurturing root. So don’t get cocky and strut your branch. Be humbly mindful of the root that keeps you lithe and green.

Really good analogy.  Funny how the bible is full of them.  The Jewish community are the tree.  Some of the branches are dead (people have turned away from God), those branches are pruned and new ones are grafted in (that's us.  The non-jewish community)

Interesting how trees play such a prominent role in the bible.  They come up a lot.  The tree of life.  The tree of knowledge.  The trees roots being connected to a water source.  The trees not bearing fruit.  So on, and so on.

tp

Romans 10

 You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!”

“Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”

Read from the message again this morning.  It seems to be clearer for my pea-brain.

I'm not sure I've ever read it spelled out this clearly before.  Its not you.  Its him.  All you have to do is ask for his help.  But, the kicker here is for you to say it out loud.  I wonder why that is?  God knows what we are thinking.  Maybe its a clearer pronouncement of our intention.  To say it out loud makes it more real to us (as opposed to real to him)

tp

Romans 9

27-28  Isaiah maintained this same emphasis:

If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered
    and the sum labeled “chosen of God,”
They’d be numbers still, not names;
    salvation comes by personal selection.
God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name.
    Arithmetic is not his focus.

I liked the Message version.  The God of the entire universe calls me by name.  I don't think I ever really let that completely sink in. Its really impossible to get my head around, from billions of people that have lived on this earth he knows who I am and what makes me tick.  He calls me to seek him out.  He has Grace for me. 

knut

Romans 8

10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness.

I read this chapter multiple days but just didn't have anything to say.  This morning I'm reminded how quick our lives come and go after learning of Brian Gosden's death and visiting with his family last night.  Its hard to believe it had been over 30 years since I had spoken to them.  Memories flash through of carpools to school, football and baseball on the open lot by your house.

These experiences are a flash in the pan.  I'm thankful for the promise we have in Christ to give us eternal life.

knut

Romans 7

17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

Thank you Jesus, because with out you I am these verses with no way out.  Funny to me how this book written so long ago cuts right to the relevant core so easily and consistently yet today.
knut

Romans 6

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

There couldn't be a bigger or better gift from God to me and you, let's not take it for granted.

knut

Romans 5

But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

that's a pretty powerful statement.
short and sweet today.

tp

Romans 4

20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 

Being a very logical numbers kind of guy, too often I fall into the trap of analyzing things constrained by the box of human and worldly laws I know to be true.  God is not constrained by any physical laws we humans may have discovered---he created them.  So why would I ever doubt his ability to create change, in any circumstance or set of facts.  

This includes sharing my faith with someone that I would have prejudged to never be open to hearing God's message and believe  My opinion is irrelevant, God can do all things let him use me when I feel the nudge--don't just sit on my hands.

ok--not where I thought I was going when I started typing, not even sure it makes sense with this chapter but its what came out.

knut

Romans 3

27-28 So where does that leave our proud Jewish insider claims and counterclaims? Canceled? Yes, canceled. What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.

I think I am running the parade.  Not proudly, but anxiously.  I am not letting him set the pace.  I am praying and asking that God help me let go of my tight grip on the direction in my life and let him set the pace.

knut

Romans 2

15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)


I don't know all the theology but this says to me that every person has the chance to know God and believe even if they haven't had the opportunity to read the bible or hear a message.  We have a morale compass that is written on our hearts by God.  Its really a gift I would say, without it we would be like every other animal.

no great take, just an observation.

knut