Romans 8: Overly Quoted and Misused

I feel that, out of all of Romans, I am the most familiar with this chapter. It seems like, when tragedy strikes, people like to quote this chapter the most, specifically verse 28. I don't necessarily want to get into the debate of why exactly bad things happen to good people, or how that works, but I've blogged about that before, and you can read it here.

What stood out to me more than the idea of God working out all things for good was what Paul says about trying to conquer the world and sin on our own. In the Message, verses 5-8 really paint an accurate picture:

5-8" Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored."

I had a friend ask me not too long ago why it is so important to be a Christian. This person observed that there are people all over who don't believe in Jesus, and they seem extremely happy. My response to that is, sure. It's possible to be happy without Christ (gasp from all the Southern Baptists). It is. People who aren't Christians don't walk around miserable all the time. The difference, to illustrate from the tattoo on my wrist, is HOPE.



When we live for ourselves, and we let ourselves down, and life happens, and things fall apart, where do we go from there? Without the hope that Christ is my comforter, my peace, my provider and my rock, I cannot stand. Without the idea that this life is not all that there is, I cannot withstand the suffering of this world. Without Him, I am forced to rely on myself and others, both of which are weak and inconstant. It is Jesus that provides us with a future, an "out." No matter how bad life is on earth, it is nothing compared to what eternity looks like without Christ. No matter how wonderful this world seems on our own, it's nothing compared to the riches and beauty that await the believer in heaven.

Earth: storm. Heaven: DOUBLE RAINBOW. ALL THE WAY. (if you haven't seen the youtube video, google it NOW).

Short and Sweet: Romans 7

So...yes, I read, but I will be honest. I am so tired that I can't even think straight. Some commonly quoted verses are in this chapter, and a lot of it goes along with what I discussed in the past 2 chapters, but I feel like I would be shortchanging the verses if I tried to write an in depth analysis. With my staff retreat today, I got a taste of what it's going to be like when I start my school schedule again. By 9 I was ready for sleep. lol
I'll try to combine some w/ Chapter 8 tomorrow.
xoxoxo

Romans 6: Who/What is my Master?

As much as I know the importance of context when reading the Bible, sometimes my brain chases a rabbit trail right into the root of a thought or problem going on in my life that is kinda-sorta connected to what Scripture is saying. In Chapter 6, Paul continues the sin/grace comparison in relation to the believer by talking about what controls us. He asks the Romans the rhetorical question of whether or not it is okay to live sinfully because of the grace we received, then answers it with what God has to say about it. What stood out to me here are verses 12-14:

"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness: but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." (NASB)

And, for a fresh and more modern perspective, here are the same verses from The Message:

"That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God."

So I know that this is talking about sin. But the first thing that I think of when I read these verses is my struggle with weight. (I am not one of THOSE girls that sits with a bucket of Blue Bell crying about her weight to anyone who will listen, if you think it's stupid, don't read the blog. Simple.) I am the WORST at staying motivated, no matter what. I've been Turbo certified. I've taught Turbo. I've worked at a gym. I've done meal replacements. I'm a Beachbody coach. I lose 10, then gain it back. Never to I stay consistent for more than a month or two. I will look at pictures of my fitness friends and get so frustrated that I don't look like them, only to forget to work out, eat fried food, and drink soda. Sometimes it really does feel like I am not the master of that area in my life (See? Told ya it was a stretch).

What convicted me is that, while not being fitness queen might not be a sin, the lack of self-control and discipline is. The fact that I cannot deprive myself speaks volumes of a sin that I never really think about. And when I look at other areas of my life, the lack of self-control is sometimes present. Not really with money, I'm not a big spender, but in the lack of patience I've blogged previously about as well as my need for instant gratification, I don't have much self-control. It doesn't feel that free to me.

Not sure how to allow God to be the master of this area of my life. Not sure if this is what He wanted to teach me from this chapter. But at least it has me thinking and evaluating.

P.S. Thank you Kim Fultz for kicking my butt with that comment reminding me to get back to it! I went on like a 3 day hiatus and forgot completely. ;)

Sin vs. Grace: Romans 5

"When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end." -Romans 5:20b-21, The Message

I will admit right now that I have already sucked it up big time at this 21 Day Challenge. It's been almost 8 days and I am just now reading the 5th chapter of Romans. My first instinct is honestly to feel like a bad Christian. Why? Because, engrained within me, is this sense of earning salvation, this lack of understanding of what grace means.

Last year, Paul preached a sermon that ignited a fire, taking the spark planted in my heart during college regarding grace and letting it completely consume me. It was a series entitled "Breaking the Rules," and you can download it here by scrolling down to the 3 sermons from March/April of last year with that title. Believing that my acceptance of God's gift of salvation was enough was a hard pill to swallow, especially for a perfectionist like myself. I think that even in my most advanced understandings of grace, I still maintained a pious attitude about service and feared that if I stopped being a Super Christian, I would fall away from the grace given to me.

It means a lot to me to know that, no matter what the circumstance, grace wins. No matter what I have done in the past, do in the present, or are tempted to do in the future, His grace covers me. It is this love that pierces my desire to sin. When I hear about people who are in the midst of struggling to do right, I think that the most necessary action to take is to first try to understand the love of Christ. Because, once you truly see how much Jesus loves you, more than any individual on this earth, the desire to stray away from Him becomes such a distant murmur. Yes, it still exists and occurs, but it no longer drives you.

I feel very blessed to be loved by many people. I have a wonderful family, and a wonderful set of friends. I have a great church, and a man who I am in love with, and loves me back. Taking all of this into consideration, the love I receive from all of these individuals is a speck, a fragment of the love that God has showered over me in the death of His Son. How can I help but be radically changed?

I would like for people reading this to take a bit of a self-assessment as well as an assessment of me, simply for accountability purposes. Ask yourself if your actions stem from religious duty, a fear of disappointing God, or genuine love and adoration for Him. Then, as a personal favor, I would ask you what you see from me. I know what's in my heart, but I would hate to send a different message than the truth of what's going on. If you are brave enough to share, and to be completely honest, I'd love to hear your thoughts!