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.