Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read Romans 15:14-33 before reading the devotional below.

Thank you all for your prayers yesterday, I am resting and on the mend 🙂

As we prepare to wrap up Romans tomorrow, I appreciate Paul’s conclusion to this amazing letter. First of all, as a writer I can relate to Paul’s vulnerability. It is nerve-wracking to put words on paper and send it off to readers, unsure how they may react. He basically says, “I know you know most of the stuff I wrote in here, so I’m not trying to insult you… I felt you needed a little reminder so thanks for receiving it.” While God inspired every word of the Bible, he did not do so in a way that eliminated humanity. Paul’s humanity shows up as he expresses a bit of fear and then reminds himself about the boldness he can have in Christ. He is confident in his calling so he does not have to fear getting the message wrong.

Paul also describes his desire to go to Rome and have them launch him into a broader European ministry through Spain and other places. From the end of Acts we know that Paul does not end up in Rome exactly in the way he hoped, and we are not sure whether he ever made it to Spain. Paul asks for their prayers for good reason — Satan is more than happy to disrupt Paul’s travel plans.

Here’s your freedom for today: God will work out your calling even if your plans get interrupted. I’m a planner — I’ll admit it. I have dreams and ideas and missions I want to accomplish. I may not get a chance to do it all, but I am confident that if I remain faithful God will work out my calling. He will use me in all the ways he wants even if that does not line up with all your plans. In fact, sometimes the plan interruptions are the things God uses for the most good. That’s when we know it’s all him and not our own doing.

Take a moment to read Romans 15:1-13 before reading the devotional below.

Paul is beginning his descent — winding down as he gets ready to conclude his letter. We’ll be heading over to Proverbs next and doing something a little different as we take just one thought to chew on each day. As we finish out Romans, Paul is wrapping up his instructions on how to love each other as Christians. We will start to hear more benediction-type statements — “may God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other…” We get a glimpse of Paul’s prayer life as we see his heart for the Roman church.

Paul quotes the Old Testament scriptures to again remind the Jewish Christians that Gentiles have always been part of the plan. This praise and rejoicing with the Gentiles was prophesied long ago and is fulfilled in this uniting of Jews and Gentiles as followers of Jesus. The whole world praising God together is what being filled with the Holy Spirit looks like.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is the only source of hope. A lot of people spend a lot of life searching for hope and answers. Some think that hope is found deep inside ourselves, but the Bible always points to God as our source. We do not have an “inner light” (in fact, the more honestly we look at ourselves, the more inner darkness we will find). The Holy Spirit gives us something we do not possess ourselves. He fills us. He shines light where darkness used to be. The good news is that even on your worst day you can have hope. It’s not a feeling, it’s a spiritual reality that supersedes our earthly circumstances.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Romans 14 before reading the devotional below.

Not everyone has the same conscience. According to the Bible, specifically this chapter, that’s okay. There is not one set of religious rules we all must follow in order to earn our way to God. That way of thinking is the exact opposite of the Gospel. Paul has spent a large amount of this letter to the Romans explaining how the law was not intended to save us, but rather to demonstrate our need for salvation. In today’s chapter, we see that some will have convictions for themselves that are different from the convictions of others. Following your own convictions and being respectful of others are the keys to healthy spiritual community.

Why is Paul taking so much time to talk about food? What does it matter what we eat? Does Jesus care? For a group of Jews and Gentiles trying to get along and figure out how to follow Jesus, food was a huge deal. Jews had all kinds of laws about what they could and could not eat. (At our house we often say that Jesus came so that we could eat bacon…). Some Jewish followers of Jesus wanted to maintain their Jewish customs, and that was perfectly fine as long as they were not relying on that to make them right with God. They also did not need to impose those customs onto the Gentiles in their midst.

Here’s your freedom for today: sometimes it’s better just to focus on yourself. You don’t need to compare yourself to someone else or decide what they ought to do. Whether it is what to eat or what to wear or what music to listen to, you should follow the convictions that the Holy Spirit places on your heart. Some will be more conservative than others — and we don’t have to be the ones to judge or compare with others. Paul wants to get across one point in this chapter: be sensitive. Don’t let the convictions of others stress you out or make you think you need to follow more rules, and don’t let your own convictions make you a know-it-all on the best way to be a good Christian. Just follow Jesus and let others do the same. God can work out all the working out that needs to be done.

Take a moment to read Romans 13:8-14 before reading the devotional below.

Right living isn’t just between you and God — it impacts our relationships too. We can’t truly follow Jesus if we do not treat others with love and compassion. This includes strangers and our closest family members and everyone in between. No one is exempt from the love we are called to give.

As a counselor, I am interested in the concept of “love your neighbor as yourself.” In many ways, that presumes a healthy self-love, but a lot of people struggle with poor self-esteem. When they do not love themselves, they don’t love their neighbor either (in the biblical sense of the word “love”). Think about it: when you are angry or hurting inside you have less to give to others. You are more likely to lash out or even perhaps allow them to treat you poorly. Verse 10 helps us see that all of this is wrong thinking as it says, “Love does no wrong to others.”

Here’s your freedom for today: love will never hurt you. No matter what you have been told about love and no matter how badly you have treated others, you can start again. You begin by acknowledging that you have no understanding of love. Your thoughts are not true. Love does not hurt. If you hurt others, then you have to start over with your concept of love. If others have hurt you, then they have not loved you no matter what they said. Time is running out in this world, and we don’t have time to waste without love. We need it, right now, in every relationship and between God and ourselves. If your relationships are broken, today is the day to decide to start over. Question your understanding of love and turn to the Bible to learn what love really is. A simple search of the word “love” in the Bible will shed a lot of light on how we can understand that word a whole lot better.

Take a moment to read Romans 13:1-7 before reading the devotional below.

Paul has fully transitioned to the application portion of his letter, and he’s continuing to lay out ways that Christians look different than the rest of the world. In light of this main idea that we are to lay down our lives as living sacrifices to God, he explains how followers of Jesus should act to the governing authorities. Keep in mind he is writing to the followers of Jesus in Rome, the center of the Roman empire. These authorities were not often nice to the non-Romans they had conquered. Just as Jesus had taught, Paul reminds these early Christians that the church must be known for peacemaking, not uprising.

In addition to making peace, Paul encourages his readers (including us 2,000 years later) to live in such a way as to keep a clear conscience. If you aren’t sneaking around cutting corners and breaking laws, you have nothing to worry about when the authorities come around. This freedom from fear of getting caught is exactly what life in the Spirit is all about. We don’t need God’s law or human laws to tell us right and wrong — the Spirit of God is always going to lead us in the right direction. So pay your taxes, stay out of trouble, never let anyone have any reason to say anything bad about you.

Here’s your freedom for today: you get to live a different life in the Spirit. Watch the news for about ten minutes and you’ll hear stories of people who are living in fear. They’ve done something wrong and are trying not to get caught. They lie to protect their lies and they think they are invincible. That kind of life is full of stress, pressure, and fear. Nothing is worth having to sleep with one eye open. A follower of Christ can rest peacefully knowing that the Spirit of God has kept them safe from the grip of this snowballing type of sin. If you are experiencing that now because of things in your past, today can be your day to be honest. Start by being honest with yourself, then God, and then one other safe person. Taking those steps might just set you free.