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. ;)

21 Day Challenge, Post 1, Romans 1

It's a fact that habits are so much more difficult to begin than to maintain. However, when life hits you like a ton of bricks, it seems like the best habits for you are the first to go. For me, reading the Bible has become this habit that I have let go to the wayside. I remember being at Starbucks every morning last year at 6:45, getting 30 minutes of reading and reflection in before work. Now I scramble out the door and allow myself to be filled with mindless activity, forgetting the passages I've previously hidden in my heart. In part, I've fought getting back into the habit due to my hatred of legalism, but most of it is just laziness. This past Sunday, Paul issued a challenge to us all to read the Bible every day for 21 days. He gave different passages for people in different walks of faith, and the one I chose is Romans. So...in order to stay accountable, I am going to try and blog about each chapter that I read...I'll summarize, reflect, and question/apply. I welcome thoughts and will do better about commenting back.

That said, let's get crackin'.

In my Bible, Chapter 1 is divided up into 2 segments: "The Gospel Exalted" (v. 1-17) and "Unbelief and its Consequences" (v. 18-32). I'm going to talk about each separately and do my best to not put my own truth into it...sigh. Harder than it seems.

Reaction to writing about Part 1:



Part one is composed of mostly introductory stuff. Paul is writing a letter to the believers in Rome. First and foremost, I've always loved Paul. He's a stud. The books of the NT that he wrote have always been my favorites...I don't know, maybe it's his unapologetic viewpoint that just resonates with me. Anyway, most of the time I skim through this part, but I made myself focus on each verse this time. One thing that I noticed is that Paul is using this opportunity to fervently encourage his fellow believers. He tells them: "unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request...for I long to see you...that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine" (v. 10-12). I love this example of Christian encouragement. Paul has been separated from this body of believers for some time, yet he maintains this relational aspect of their connection. They are not just "Christians" who are hosting a guest speaker. They truly love each other in Christ and do the best they can to meet each other's needs. I imagine Paul finally arriving to Rome and asking them "What can I do for you? How can I serve you?" and vice versa.

I also love the point of this encouragement. It is not for self-righteousness or an ego boost...it is so that the gospel is preached. Verse 16 is a widely known verse: "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." The love Paul expresses and receives for/from Christ is not exclusive. It is accessible to anyone! The way in which he "preaches" this in the beginning of this letter is simply by expressing his love. I love this. To quote Paul Mints, "This is a football." Going back to the basics...the love of Christ brings the free gift of salvation to any who will receive it.

This next part isn't so fun. Reaction to having to write about Part 2:



Ugh. It's so much more fun to talk about encouragement than sin. Seriously. But I am going to hash it all out and be honest about what I think and whether or not it lines up with God's word. Suck.

Paul begins talking about ungodliness and God's reaction to it. I've never really thought about it before, but this passage reeks of the consequences of free will. The people he is talking about know the truth of God...they have seen His creation, His power, etc. but are choosing to live ungodly lives, which is "suppressing the truth in unrighteousness," i.e. becoming a stumbling block for those around them seeking the truth. These are the individuals that have "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man..." (v. 23) In this instance, Paul means a tangible idol, but I think that it can be applied to anything we place before Christ. Now, note the wording of the next verse here: the Word says "For this reason God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts..." Never does it say "smote" or "hatefully caused"...God simply allowed them to do what they wanted to do. He gave them the choice. He allowed the sin they so readily ate up to consume them. Translation in Caty-ese: Satan uses free will to lead us on the path of destruction, and God loves us enough to let us choose, even though He knows what is best. Wow, what it must be like to be God. I would be horrible at it. I'd get so annoyed with people making stupid decisions I'd just wipe them out or use some excellent mind control technique or something. Again, thank goodness we don't have any Caty Almighty stuff going on up in here.

The next part is something that I will be blogging about in a series I plan on attempting called "Taboo Topics." While Paul is talking about this refusal on God's part to turn us into robots, he specifically addresses the issue of homosexuality: "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error" (v. 26-27). For those of you chomping at the bit, I promise I'm not stopping there and will give full attention to the context of the verses around it. But when things get right down to it, the word of God is examining the sexual relationship between members of the same sex, and is categorizing it as ungodly. I'll be honest: I HATE THIS. I hate that this is the truth that I'm finding. I have friends who are homosexual. They are wonderful people. I love them dearly. So does God. And not just in a "love them to Jesus" way..for me, there is no "us" and "them." The next few verses provide a little relief from this heart pang, and really puts a lot of the self-righteousness out there to rest.

Last few verses:
Other ungodly acts/characteristics listed in the remaining verses are as follows: unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossiping, slander, hate, insolence, arrogance, pride, disobedience to parents, refusing to understand, untrustworthiness, unloving, unmerciful....wow. If you think for one second you haven't been on that list, get a reality check. I don't know why Paul goes into detail about homosexuality and not the other things...honestly my guess is that he wanted to be able to explain what he meant, because sexuality in and of itself is not a sin...perhaps he wanted to clarify. I don't know. Another blog, another time. But, bottom line, sin is sin. It's all bad. It's all consuming. There is no sin that is only "kind of ungodly." Anyway, what we end with here at the end of chapter 1 is the process of being encouraged, followed shortly by a brutal beating in which we realize that we are irrevocably screwed up and that we did it to ourselves. Awesome.

I hate ending with that, but I am not going to skip ahead. I will be writing some thoughts about Chapter 2 tomorrow. Please join me in this challenge! It's not too late!

Peace.
-Caty

Literature: detriment or necessity to Christianity?

In casual conversation with a 9th grade student, the book series Harry Potter was brought up. This series is very special to me, as well as possessing renound literary merit. Of course, I was excited to discuss these books with the unsuspecting girl (I am an English teacher, so sue me). However, I was greeted with this disappointing opinion: "Harry Potter shouldn't be read by Christians." My jaw dropped...not that this was the first time I have heard this, but I was appalled by the fact that someone other than Dr. James Dobson actually believed this. I began to bring up Christian themes, biblical allusions, etc. but the girl was convinced: "There are no Christian values in Harry Potter." I would like to also add the small detail that this girl had never read the books. But had watched the movies. Just saying.
This conversation caused me to think a lot about the role that non-Christian literature plays in faith. I will try to explore this issue from both sides, though it is obvious that I am biased. First I will try to go from Dobson's perspective. There are many verses in the Bible dealing with sin, sinful matters, etc. For example, 1 Timothy 6:11 tells us to "flee from these things (money, temptations), you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance {and} gentleness." Furthermore, 2 Timothy 2:22 states, "Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love {and} peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." I think that most would agree that these Scriptures are pretty self explanatory. We, as children of God, do not need to engage in sinful behavior. The key words here are "flee" and "pursue." The question most critics would pose is "What does it mean to flee youthful lusts?" Doesn't that mean to run as far away from sin as possible? Therefore, in approaching literature with questionable language, sexual content, etc., would it be appropriate, in pursuit of holiness, to avoid these novels?
Now, the opposing side. Looking at the same Scriptures, one could pose a completely different arguement. The question I would ask is "What defines youthful lusts?" Is it content itself, or our engaging in the content? Is it knowledge of the sin that we need to avoid, or activity in it? Now, don't read me wrong, I am not saying to go and rent pornographic material for learning purposes. But I think that the Holy Spirit has given us discernment to know what we can and cannot handle. For example, the novel Atonement. There is an extremely risque part where the two lovers in the book have sex in the library. I would like to make 2 points from this example. 1) Reading this part/this scene did not cause me to lust or to want to emulate this behavior. 2)This book has a Christian theme that cannot be argued, and this scene was much needed to allow the reader to fully grasp the theme of "atonement."
The Bible commands us to be in the world, not of the world. Yes, we are called to be holy, blameless, above reproach. We should flee from anything that causes us to stumble. We should flee from sin, period. However, we cannot forget the first part of this phrase, "IN the world." Bottom line: the world that we live in uses foul language. People use drugs. They drink alcohol. They have sex outside of marriage. They have man to man and woman to woman relationships. Christians should not pursue these things, but can we make a difference at all if we have zero understanding of the world we live in? I need to be able to have a conversation with people who are in this world. I need to be able to not appear as a "holier-than-thou." There are no censors walking down the street; therefore, I do not believe there should be any censors in literature. I would like to end with this thought: I read my Bible regularly. However, one of the most life-changing God moments I have ever had came from reading the poem "Psalm III" by Allen Ginsberg, a homosexual Beat poet who was quite fond of the "f" word.

Any thoughts?