My Daily Pause

When most people recite something from Romans 8, they go for Romans 8:28 – “…all things work together for good…”

I’d like to direct your attention to the verses before it though. God gave us the gift of prayer as a way to talk to him, but have you ever been at a loss for words? Have you ever worried that you would say the wrong things? Romans 8:26-27 should be a comfort in these cases.

God wants to know what we need and what is on our heart. His gift to New Testament Christians is the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38f) acting as our mediator to him. We don’t have to depend on the shortcomings of our earthly languages or knowledge to have access to the Father!

Daily Bible reading for October 14

Psalm 74
1 Kings 8:22-66
Ezekiel 36
Romans 7

Soldiers that haven’t been to battle do not know how they are going to perform when they are called to duty. The truly great soldiers grew through a continuous cycle of training and action and reflection (They call it debriefing.)

Being challenged is part of life. How we respond is where we grow.

We can go to Romans 5:1-11 for comfort when we face trials and sufferings. Any one of us should be able to look into the past and see how something challenging we had to work through became an experience that was for our own good. We might have even been able to use an experience to help others get through difficult times. That is what Paul was shooting for in this passage – a cycle of growth despite adversity:

Hope – trial – patience – character – hope

When I look at the daily challenges I face and the hurt I feel when I see people disparage Christians, This idea helps me understand what Jesus meant when he said

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account – Matthew 5:11

That word blessed? That means happy or fortunate in a prolonged sense (ref. Strong’s G1307.) This give me a better sense of why the apostles were rejoicing for being persecuted in Acts 5:41.

I’m not suggesting we look for trouble for this purpose – I’m sure that anyone working on getting to heaven will find plenty, but I am suggesting that we remember to stay calm and try to understand how we will be better for it.

• We will have suggestions for others
• We will know what solution works (or doesn’t)
• We will grow more mature in the Lord

And most importantly, we will know what we can take when put to the test.

Daily Bible reading for October 11

Psalm 71
1 Kings 6
Ezekiel 33
Romans 5:1-11

I am stumped by the number of people that go to a church in general or claim to be a part of the Lord’s church specifically, that do not find it harmful to drink alcohol. Since there are exhaustive explanations out there against any possibility of social drinking being “OK”, I’m not going to add a lot of my own words. Why not just look at the warnings of the wisest man to have lived? Solomon says not to even look at it:

The lie of social drinking claims more Christians every day

Who has trouble? Who has pain?
Who fights? Who complains?
Who has unnecessary bruises?
Who has bloodshot eyes?

It is people who drink too much wine,
who try out all different kinds of strong drinks.

Don’t stare at the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.

Later it bites like a snake
with poison in its fangs.

Your eyes will see strange sights,
and your mind will be confused.

You will feel dizzy as if you’re in a storm on the ocean,
as if you’re on top of a ship’s sails.

You will think, “They hit me, but I’m not hurt.
They beat me up, but I don’t remember it.
I wish I could wake up.
Then I would get another drink.” –Proverbs 23:29-35 NCV

Alcohol is poison – Don’t touch it. The “disease” of alcoholism was never caught by someone that never took a drink.

Daily Bible reading for October 10

Psalm 70
1 Kings 5
Ezekiel 32
Romans 4

Today I am still looking closely at Romans 3. Continuing with the notes I previously posted about segmenting what is written to wrest meaning that isn’t in the Scriptures, I am going to capture some additional points about it. This way I have the thoughts recorded so I can remember them later. I apologize in advance for it looking more like a rough draft than a finished devotional.

In addition to breaking up Romans 3:22b-25 into chunks to make the argument for a “faith only” salvation, there is another problem that can be seen when one consults an older commentary, such as Adam Clark, with something newer from someone who teaches faith only. Several verses through the New Testament have been changed in newer versions to talk about faith in Christ instead of the faith of Christ!

KJV:

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference – Romans 3:22 KJV

ESV:

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: – Romans 3:22 ESV

This little tweak to the Scriptures gives the faith only teacher the basis to use Romans 3:28 as support for their error. The biggest question I have for them, is how does the faith of a sinful person give him salvation when compared to the perfect faith of Jesus Christ? And then, if our own faith alone is sufficient, why was Jesus’ perfect faith not enough to save us? He also had to be obedient to God to complete the plan!

Some other Scriptures that have this same problem between versions:

• Galatians 3:22 KJV – Galatians 3:22 ESV
• Ephesians 3:12 KJV – Ephesians 3:12 ESV
• Philippians 3:9 KJV – Philippians 3:9 ESV
• Galatians 2:16 KJV – Galatians 2:16 ESV
• Galatians 2:20 KJV – Galatians 2:20 ESV

(For those reading in email, these references are linked for easy comparison.)

Daily Bible reading for October 9

Psalm 69
1 Kings 4
Ezekiel 31
Romans 3:21-31

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… – Romans 3:23

That fragment of sentence gets a lot of play as a standalone statement – probably because it is given its own verse. It seems like the tendency is to chop up this section of scripture so that we get

…and we are justified by his grace … – Romans 3:24a

This is wrong and misuses the verses to support “faith only” doctrine.

When taken as a whole the phrase says something much different:

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. – Romans 3:22b-25

The key portion of Paul’s statement is about the redemption that is “in Christ.” Paul used the phrase “in Christ” at least 150 times in his letters and he meant a very specific situation by it. To be in Christ is to become a part of his body. The body is Christ’s church, and he is the head.

When Paul wrote these verses, he wanted us to know that no one person was better than another when it comes to our salvation. We all need to find our way into Christ and not expect to be able to earn salvation or expect it to just happen. It comes through obedience.

Daily Bible reading for October 8

Psalm 68
1 Kings 3
Ezekiel 29-30
Romans 3:9-20