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Romans 1:18-32

Take a moment to read Romans 1:18-32 before reading the devotional below.

As we read Romans, it is important to remember that Paul is building a cohesive theological argument. We are breaking the reading up into smaller sections, but we cannot rip them out of their context. You may want to go back each day and review the previous day’s devotional in order to keep the flow continuous in your mind. Recall that Paul already has made the basic case that Jesus is the Messiah and he fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures. Our main point yesterday was that faith is the key to freedom — and today we see what happens when we do not put our faith in God.

God’s presence has been made apparent to everyone. I don’t know a person who is not amazed by a beautiful sunset or the vastness of the ocean. Obviously people attribute those natural phenomena to a variety of causes, but here Paul is saying that God’s presence is abundantly clear. We have an innate hunger for God, but sometimes we replace God with other things like idols or our own desires. When we want to go our own way, God lets us, and we are pretty creative when it comes to finding ways to sin. We bicker with our loved ones, we disobey our parents, we hate and judge people, and we break our promises. No matter what you’ve struggled with in your flesh, it’s in this list. And of course the very first thing we are tempted to do with this passage is point to all the people doing all the stuff we’ve never even thought about and say how horrible they must be.

Here’s your freedom for today: you don’t have to do God’s job.

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Here’s your freedom for today: you don’t have to do God’s job. Evaluating the hearts of people is God’s job, not mine or yours. We do not need to cherry pick the Bible to find verses that make us out to be the “good guys” and others the bad ones. The point of this section of the letter to the Romans is that every single one of us finds a way to be depraved without God. If it hasn’t been done yet, we’ll make up new ways to turn from him. We can’t make any conclusions about this yet because Paul is just getting started in establishing the foundations of his argument. As we go along in the coming days and weeks, we’ll need to keep asking ourselves why. Why is he writing this? Why did God want to reveal this to us through this letter? What is the main point and what does it mean for my own spiritual growth? Keep your eyes on you through that process so that you can go deeper with God.

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Romans 1:1-17

Take a moment to read Romans 1:1-17 before reading the devotional below.

Invite your friends to join us as we start this new series on Romans by hitting the social media “Share” buttons!

Before we start exploring Paul’s letter to the church in Rome over the next month or so, take time to read about its background and history. This letter is not storytelling, but rather makes some important points about what it means to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and to follow him. We will be asking a lot of questions during this series, rather than describing events.

Paul begins his theological framework by fitting Jesus into the bigger story that God had been working out with his Jewish people for thousands of years. He makes the connection with David’s family line, from which the Messiah would come. He affirms the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, a key point for understanding the rest of his argument. Paul is also affirming that Jesus came not just for Jews, but for “Gentiles” (all non-Jewish people). These are big shifts in thinking for religious Jews who had taken the Scriptures and created some preconceived ideas of what the Messiah would be like. But Paul declares that he is not ashamed to tell everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, that Jesus is the Messiah and he came to save the world.

Here’s your freedom for today: faith is the key to freedom.

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Here’s your freedom for today: faith is the key to freedom. Do you believe God has power? Do you believe that he demonstrated that power through Jesus on earth? Do you believe he is active in the world and in our lives today through his Holy Spirit? Do you believe God is willing and able to transform you? All of these questions take faith to believe, but faith is not a mere list of check-boxes that makeup a religious worldview. Instead, faith takes action on these beliefs — following a calling of God on your life, sacrificing personal comfort for spiritual growth, praying for and expecting miracles. When you have faith that Jesus is the Son of God and the hope of the world, you can’t just live a run-of-the-mill life. Faith brings freedom to live beyond what this world can offer. Just a tiny little bit can change everything.

Faith brings freedom to live beyond what this world can offer. Just a tiny little bit can change everything. 

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Colossians 4:7-18

Take a moment to read Colossians 4:7-18 before reading the devotional below. 

Paul ends his letter to the Colossians by listing all the various people who have assisted him in his ministry. We see from verse 10 that Paul is indeed writing this from prison and Aristarchus is there with him. He dispatches Tychicus and Onesimus to bring the letter to Colosse and to encourage the believers there. Paul describes these and his other companions as a “comfort,” and it is a reminder to us all of the power of relationships. We need each other to accomplish God’s work.

Here’s your freedom for today: you don’t have to go it alone.

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Here’s your freedom for today: you don’t have to go it alone. The Christian life is meant to be lived in community, working alongside each other and using all our gifts to build up and encourage the church. When we try to accomplish God’s calling on our own, we fall into various traps like pride, loneliness, discouragement, and self-reliance. When you find yourself in isolation, reach out to others who can minister alongside you. Offer prayer support to others and ask them to pray for you. Find ways to work in a team so that the fruit of your work can multiply and the load can be shared. When ministry feels heavy, it is a sign that you are leaning on yourself too much. Give yourself permission to put something down and work towards change.

Give yourself permission to put something down and work towards change. 

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Colossians 4:1-6

Take a moment to read Colossians 4:1-6 before reading the devotional below.

Prayer defines us. Our ongoing conversation with God spills out in our lives whether we intend it to or not. What we say to others, how we use opportunities that cross our paths, and how we engage in the spiritual battles around us all stem from our prayer lives. If you are not praying, you will miss many of these spiritually significant moments in your day.

Paul tells us of two essential ingredients to a good prayer life: an alert mind and a thankful heart. Why are these important? First, if we are not alert then we will remain oblivious to the spiritual realm. Most people walk around completely unaware of the spiritual influences and events in their lives. When we are alert, we can see the activity in the spiritual realm. Second, a thankful heart positions us for battle. Satan is out to destroy, discourage, and distract. Gratitude fixes our heart on the works of God and we give him glory as he is due.

Here’s your freedom for today: you have what it takes to lead in God’s kingdom.

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Here’s your freedom for today: you have what it takes to lead in God’s kingdom. Notice that intelligence, charm, beauty, or wealth are not listed among the things that deepen our spiritual effectiveness. Whatever the world has said you don’t have enough of, God says it doesn’t matter. Pay attention and be thankful. That’s it. Anyone who has a desire to do this can participate and grow. God’s kingdom is an equal opportunity realm where there are no entrance requirements too hard. His power accomplishes the work, you simply bring the willingness.

God’s power accomplishes the work, you simply bring the willingness.

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Colossians 3:18-25

Take a moment to read Colossians 3:18-25 before reading the devotional below. 

Everything comes back to just you and God. Whether you are single, married, a free spirit or enslaved to your boss, everything you do is about your relationship with God. Passages in the Bible like today’s often lead us to finger pointing or elbowing our spouse or neighbor. If only he/she would act differently… And yet if we all just followed the way of Jesus we would have no need for blame.

Our heavenly Father has an eternal reward for us. So what if we spend at most 80-90 years toiling away on this earth, putting others ahead of ourselves? We have all of eternity to live in a sin-free home where none of this will be hard at all. Submitting to each other will be the obvious and natural choice. Being gentle with each other will be automatic. The more you read the Bible, the more you realize that anything hard here is relatively incomparable to how good our eternal home will be.

Here’s your freedom for today: you can make it a little while longer.

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Here’s your freedom for today: you can make it a little while longer. If your spouse or your boss or your parent is absolutely exasperating, keep on living like Jesus. Whatever you choose to do in those relationships will be a choice for God, not for that person. That doesn’t mean you let them do whatever they want to you, but it means that even in establishing boundaries in the relationship you do it with gentleness and love. And no matter what, an eternity without these challenges awaits you. Sometimes God will give you a glimpse of home along the way as you seek to serve.