Tuesday, December 25, 2012

12/10/12 - Romans 1 - 3

S - Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.  They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

O - My child whom I love, today I want to tell you . . . do not be ashamed of the gospel.  Do not be ashamed of me.  Do not be ashamed to tell others of me and to share the gospel with any who need to hear it.  Notice how all of the sins are grouped together?  Envy, murder, gossip, disobedient to parents all got grouped in the same set of verses.  I don't 'classify' sin!  Sin is sin!  And they are all deserving of death.  But I paid the price for you.  If you will accept me and let me cover it for you, you will not have to go through that death.  

A - So, when someone says it is 'just a little white lie' it is still a sin.  When I say that at least I am not a murderer, I am still a sinner, just like the murderer.  Sin is not classified by how great or how small the sin is.  Sin is still sin and I will go to eternal death for even the 'smallest' sin.  Thankfully, I have accepted the redemption that comes through the death of Jesus Christ and now have eternal life.  I suppose I should begin to live like it.  When I sin I am slipping back into the life that I have left by accepting Jesus into my heart.

P - Heavenly Father, help me to remember that, to you, a sin is still a sin, and any sin is enough to separate me from you.  I want to be near you and have total access to you.  Forgive me for my sins.  Help me to come to you regularly and seek you out for strength to avoid sinning.

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