The Word for today:
Romans 1:1-17
Romans 1:1-17
mark this:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. (Romans 1:16-17)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. (Romans 1:16-17)
You probably never met me, but neither have I.
And I probably never met you, but neither have you…
Who and what you truly are is inextricably bound together with God, so that what was said of David and Jonathan is meant as a picture of Jesus and you:
The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. (1 Samuel 18:1)
The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. (1 Samuel 18:1)
What is said of David and God in 1 Samuel 25:29 is also meant to depict our inseparable identification with Jesus:
Your life shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God. (1 Samuel 25:29)
Your life shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God. (1 Samuel 25:29)
In the Bible, we meet Jesus Christ. But the subtext of scripture is that as we meet him we meet ourselves. With that in mind, listen very carefully to these verses, as if you've never heard them before:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. (Romans 1:16-17)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. (Romans 1:16-17)
***
When Jesus died, you became the righteousness of God in him (1). So as we are reading the Bible--the Revelation of Jesus Christ--there should be a sensation that we are also meeting our true selves for the first time.
As we get to know him, we will increasingly--from faith to faith--come to know ourselves, culminating with this astonishing scripture:
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)
***
When I was in my formative years, in the 1960's, people were ceaselessly in search of themselves. But they were looking in all the wrong places,
because God has decreed that the only way you'll find yourself is to look for Him.
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(1) 2 Corinthians 5:21
(1) 2 Corinthians 5:21
Franklyn: "Lookin for love in all the wrong places." You may or may not know that this is the title of an old country and western song. I recommend that you look up the lyrics to this song and listen to how the song fits in to todays posting. Of course the song is not referring to the spiritual love that scripture points out; but as you listen to the words you will hear many of the same dead-end pathways that we take to find the love of GOD. Thanks for the post!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I will.
ReplyDeleteIn my past life I could have been a tour guide for 'all the wrong places.'