Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read Romans 12:9-21 before reading the devotional below.

Yesterday’s passage told us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God in response to his merciful offer of salvation. Wonder what that looks like in day-to-day life? Paul gives us a list of examples in today’s verses:

1. Love other people from the deepest place in your soul

2. Hate and oppose evil things

3. Delight in honoring others

4. Work hard

5. Rejoice in the hope of salvation

6. Be patient in trouble

7. Pray, pray, pray

8. Help people in need

9. Practice hospitality

10. Bless and pray for those who persecute you

11. Demonstrate empathy

12. Live at peace with everyone

13. Don’t be above anybody else

14. Don’t seek revenge

15. Do everything in a way that shows your honor and integrity

16. Overcome evil by doing good

There you go. That is your daily to-do list for the rest of your life. Imagine if people who claimed to follow Jesus did those 16 things every day. What would the church be like? What would the world be like?

Here’s your freedom for today: God’s will is not a mystery. We often make the Christian life more complicated than it needs to be. We spend loads of time asking God to show us his will and we wait for writing in the sky while ignoring what we has already told us to do. Until you get more directions, use these. They’ll cover most situations anyway. When we stop trying to figure out some complicated “next step” and start living the way God has already showed us, we are freed up to truly live as Jesus did rather than being caught in a trap of inaction. Pick one thing from today’s list and do that one thing well. There is tremendous spiritual power in simple obedience.

Take a moment to read Romans 12:1-8 before reading the devotional below.

So far, Paul has written a letter that has helped put Jesus into the scope of Jewish history and uphold the importance of God’s special chosen people while also explaining why God would open the door to the Gentiles. He has made a clear argument that we all need saving, no matter who we are, and in God’s mercy he has made that possible through Jesus. How are we to respond to such mercy on God’s part? What does God want now from his special Jewish people, and what does he require of the Gentiles?

God wants one thing: you. Your life, just like Christ’s, is the sacrifice he desires. The law was an earthly system that pointed to the need for salvation. Those sacrificial requirements had to be repeated over and over because they were never good enough. But Jesus gave us a model for what it means to lay down our lives. When we do this, we live as fundamentally different people. Not Jews, not Gentiles, but instead one people united by God’s Spirit. No one is better or worse than anyone else, and we function best when we are working together as a body.

Here’s your freedom for today: you have a place in God’s family. No matter how God made you, no matter what skills or abilities you have, God has a place for you in his family. We all work together, with everyone giving of themselves for something far greater. Devotion and love for our Heavenly Father unites us and supersedes all other identities we may hold. To some that may sound like a creepy cult, but a close family is nothing of the sort. Wouldn’t you want a place to belong where you are free to be yourself? Most of the world is searching for just that, and looking in all the wrong places. God loves you, wants you, and invites you. It’s completely up to you whether you come along.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Romans 11 before reading the devotional below.

Once again we will tackle an entire chapter at once because Paul is making one point that is best read all at once. He is continuing on this theme of the importance of the Jewish people even in the midst of God offering salvation to the Gentiles too. He is using language that would be familiar to them from the Old Testament scriptures, including his reference to a “remnant.” This word was used by the prophet Isaiah to describe the end of the world. If you were following our Advent series (or if you go back and check it out now), you will see that Isaiah prophesied a lot about the coming Messiah as well as the end of the world. He spoke of a Jewish remnant, meaning a group of Jews who would remain faithful to God even as others turned away.

Paul uses an agricultural illustration that most of us will be confused by — grafting in branches of an olive tree. When a tree branch breaks off, you can reconnect it through a process called grafting. You can watch a whole bunch of YouTube videos on how it works, but all you really need to know is that this process makes the tree whole again. God, in his abundant mercy, has chosen to use a small group, or remnant, of Jewish people who will be the core of God’s people. Into this core (much like a tree trunk with thick branches), the Gentiles will be grafted in, creating a whole and vibrant people of God.

Here’s your freedom for today: God’s glory is worth everything. God shows mercy to anyone he wants, and he has proven that he can save the world if he so chooses. He has planned all of this saving for his own glory. Some may believe that makes God arrogant, or a “show off.” But that does not account for God’s ultimate love and goodness. His glory is a gift to us, and it is not centered in pride. God’s glory is fully deserved — there is nothing prideful about it because he is owed worship from all of creation. We as Christians can pursue the glory of God and step out of the center of the story to properly give God his place at the center. Stepping out of the limelight is a place of freedom as we re-align our lives with how the world is supposed to be.

Take a moment to read Romans 10:14-21 before reading the devotional below.

You can’t pray to a God you don’t believe in. And you can’t believe what you don’t know about. Jesus gave his disciples some instructions before he returned to Heaven: go tell the world about me. Paul is fulfilling that mission and he is stressing the importance of all believers taking part in spreading the good news. Some, like Paul, need to be sent out to far-away places so that everyone gets the chance to hear about Jesus and have faith in him.

However, just because people hear about Jesus doesn’t mean they welcome him with open arms. The doors to the kingdom of God may be wide open, but not everyone wants to walk in. God has allowed people to reject him for all of human history, from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to the Jewish people to Pharaoh to pagan cultures. God wants willingness to be a part of the rescue plan. He will not drag you onto the lifeboat. He simply saves a place for you.

Here’s your freedom for today: God’s arms will always be open for you. He is ready to embrace you every single day, whether you have accepted Jesus or not. Sometimes when we are followers of Jesus, we forget that God’s arms are always open. We get caught up in religious thinking (the very way of thinking Paul is trying to help us reject) and we start believing that our salvation is partly our job. Nope, it’s still all Jesus. For those who have rejected Jesus or simply not yet heard, God’s arms are open as well. The invitation does not expire or change. Today, right now, no matter what anything has looked like in your life until this exact minute, God is ready to embrace you. Will you let him hug you and comfort you today?

Take a moment to read Romans 10:1-13 before reading the devotional below.

Christians have a high regard for Paul today since he wrote much of the New Testament, but during his lifetime Paul was not always embraced warmly. First of all, he started off so against the early Christians that he actively murdered them. God had to knock him off his horse and set him straight to shift his zeal to the right direction. Secondly, Paul, Peter, and other leaders of the early church were tortured, imprisoned, and rejected everywhere they went. The religious leaders who hated Jesus had the same problem with his followers: they did not want everyone to have free access to God.

Paul wants the Jewish followers to know that he is preaching the same message that God has been sending for all of Jewish history. God has not changed his mind, but rather he has made good on his promises. Paul demystifies the salvation process, having already proven that the law cannot save you. All it takes is faith. Just a simple acceptance of the power of Jesus’ resurrection. If God sent Jesus as the Messiah and he had the power to overcome death, then belief in this miraculous salvation is what your heart needs.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is available to you. Although we sometimes think that the path to God is complicated or difficult, he’s actually made it very easy. Through the Jewish people, he demonstrated the requirements of his kingdom. They proved to the world that they could not maintain these requirements. God promised a Messiah who would come and rescue the Jewish people and the world. Jesus came and was able to demonstrate the power of God through healings, miracles, and his resurrection. Jesus is now holding the doors to the kingdom wide open for all to come in. A simple “yes” is all you need. Come on in!