Beyond the Gospels: Romans 9:1-29

To read the scripture for today's devotional, click here: Romans 9:1-29

The movie “The Blind Side” tells the true story of Michael Oher, a high school student gifted as a football player whose home life was simply terrible. His father had been in and out of prison, and his mother was addicted to both alcohol and crack cocaine. He attended 11 different schools during his first nine years of school, being placed in foster care at age 7, and alternating between foster care and homelessness.

When a local couple, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, discovered that Michael was homeless, they invited him to live with them. The 6’4” 315 lb. Michael, who is African American, was adopted by the Tuohys, who are Caucasian. The Tuohys made Michael a part of their family, and they also provided him with a private tutor to help him to grow academically.

After graduating from high school, Michael attended the University of Mississippi where he excelled as a football player. After college graduation, he was drafted into the NFL by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 draft. He played for Baltimore and also the Tennessee Titans and now plays for the Carolina Panthers.

The film points out that family is about more than blood. Michael’s adoption by the Tuohys and his being welcomed as a family member is a great illustration that love knows no bounds.

God, the source of love, knows no bounds.

One of the most pressing questions facing the followers of Jesus in the first century was that of who could become a follower of Jesus?

Paul addresses this topic in his letter to the Romans. Like the Tuhoys, he believed that blood did not make family, but that love did.  “…it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.” (Romans 9:8)

God’s love is freely offered to all humans. Sometimes individuals want to restrict the church to only those people meeting certain human-produced criteria. But Christians should boldly make known that the love of God expressed in Jesus Christ is available to everyone. Because blood doesn’t make a family, love does.

Prayer: Blessed and Holy God, help us to tear down the walls that divide us as humans. Help us to extend your love to those who are different from us, knowing that they are your children too. Cleanse our hearts of the things that separate us from our brothers and sisters. Amen. 

Beyond the Gospels: Romans 8:31-39

To read the scripture for today's devotional, click here: Romans 8:31-39

Separation can be a painful thing. A mother dropping off her child at daycare for the first time causes feelings of angst for both the child and the mother. Work that involves overnight travel separates spouses from each other and fathers/mothers from their children, and all look forward to the work being over so they can again be together. There is even a psychological term called “separation anxiety” that deals with separation.

Separation is even done for punishment. In the Old Testament certain laws in Leviticus required that persons be separated from others for particular periods of time. In today’s world one of the harshest punishments used in penitentiaries is solitary confinement, which separates one  subject from others.

For the followers of Jesus Christ, however, there should be no fear of separation from God. Jesus’ death on the cross, his burial, and his resurrection removed all obstacles between humans and God. The earthly has been overpowered by the heavenly.

Paul tells us that God’s grace is so powerful that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from it. As he puts it so beautifully, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Even when our faith is shaken and we feel separated from God, it’s good to remember the comforting words that assure us that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Prayer: Most loving and gracious God, thank you for bridging forever the gap that separated humans from you. Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross offers to us a love that is so passionate, so powerful, that absolutely nothing can separate us from you. Amen.

Beyond the Gospels: Romans 8:12-30

To read the scripture for today's devotional, click here: Romans 8:12-30

A man who had been fighting cancer was put on hospice care. Friends and family came to visit. One visitor asked the man, “How are you?”

The man replied, “I am loved. I’m going to see Jesus. It’s going to be a great week.”

Even though the man was suffering and the end of his life was nearing, he knew that because he was a Christian, death was not the end. He was able to see the good even in the face of bad news.

The apostle Paul knew about faith in the face of suffering. He wrote, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)

When times get tough in our lives it is easy to let the troubles of this world take our focus off of God. It happens oftentimes without us even realizing it, little by little.

And yet if we, like the man in hospice, keep our focus on God, our priorities change. We live not for the things of this world, which will not last, but we live for things above, those things that are eternal.

And that makes our troubles seem not so bad.

Prayer: Loving God help us to keep our focus on you during difficult times. Help us to remember that the tough times on this earth will not last forever, but the love and grace of Jesus Christ lasts for eternity. Amen.

Beyond the Gospels: Romans 8:1-11

To read the scripture for today's devotional, click here: Romans 8:1-11

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

There is a funny video on YouTube of a home in which an outer, glass storm door has been broken out but the steel frame is still in place. The family that lives there includes a cute dog. The humor comes from the fact that the dog, so used to having the glass in the door, refuses to just step through the door frame to go out. Instead, it patiently waits for the door frame to be opened before going outside.  (See it here: https://youtu.be/Ls0WFCQXdlw )

Sometimes we as Christians do something similar spiritually. Paul tells us that “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” has set us free from the law of sin and of death, and yet we, like the dog, live like the glass door of sin and death is still in place and keeping us from where God wants us to go.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our savior we become a new creation. We no longer have to live in fear of disease and death. We no longer have to do things we know are wrong and, when confronted with it, say things like “The devil made me do it.” We are God’s children. We are Christ-like.

Prayer: God, help us to remember that we are, indeed, free from the law of sin and death. We have overcome those things by faith in Jesus Christ. We have become new creations. The old is past, the new has come. Breathe into us new life daily. Amen.

Beyond the Gospels: Romans 7

To read the scripture for today's devotional from Romans 7, click here: Romans 7

There’s an old joke about a gentleman who goes to the doctor. “Doc, everytime I push on the sides of my temples with my fingers I get a headache. Can you help me?”

“Sure, the doctor says. “Quit pushing on the side of your temples with your fingers.”

It sounds overly simplistic to stop doing something that is hurting you, but the reality of life is that sometimes we do exactly that.

Take addictions, for example. Smoking, overeating, drugs, pornography, alcohol are just a few of the addictions with which people struggle. It’s not that the people addicted to those things don’t know they are bad for them, but yet they keep doing them anyway.

Paul writes about something similar in Romans 7. Paul is talking about sin, though, when he writes, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate.” (v. 15)

Paul writes about the struggle between doing what is right (righteousness) and doing what is wrong (sin). Such a struggle has been depicted in cartoons and movies as a person having a small devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, with both telling the person what to do.

When we become followers of Jesus Christ it doesn’t mean that the devil quits whispering to us. In fact, he usually starts talking louder. And yet through the power of the Holy Spirit we can resist temptation and do what is right.

As it says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Prayer: God forgive us when we do the things we don’t want to do. Grant us the power of the Holy Spirit to resist temptations in whatever forms they present themselves. Give us strength to live Godly lives as we seek to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Amen.