My Devotions in Romans

By God's grace my intentions are to come to better personal understanding of Romans. I have been in chapter one for two weeks and I am nowhere yet. This passage begins with some definition of the unrighteous proceeded by a wonderful act of grace on God's part to make Himself known to the unrighteous. However, the following list is how the ungodly respond to the glory and beauty of God.

Try to discern what you would do with such a person as this:

Supress the truth in their unrighteousness
They know God
They do not glorify Him as God
They are not thankful, but futile (vain, meaningless conclusions - McArthur)
Foolish dark hearts
Claim to be wise - believe in themselves
Change God's glory into an earthly image
Worship creation instead of the Creator

At this point God gives them over to their debased mind

Lust - Dishonoring their own bodies (unclean)
Exchange the truth of God for a lie
The Lie - There is no God who deserves obedience and glory
Vile passions - Homosexuality/Lesbianism
Try to forget there is a God
Debased minds - "Not passing the test" (worthless metals - discarded for impurity)
Unrighteous
Sexually Immoral
Wicked
Covetous
Malicious
Envious
Produce Strife
Deceivers
Evil-minded
Whisperers (Gossipers)
Backbitters
Haters of God
Violent
Proud
Boasters
Inventors of Evil Things
Disobedient to Parents
Undiscerning
Untrustworthy
Unloving
Unforgiving
Unmerciful
Blatant Rebelliousness (Because they know God -yet do these things)

Pauls logical conclusion to this list is: "those who practice such things are deserving of death..."

May God help us if for one moment we come to believe we are in any way deserving of ANYTHING in this life or the life that is to come. May God help us to bow in humble obedience each day to the authority of our Savior and King! May God help us to communicate the truth in Corinthians that we have "NOTHING that we have not RECEIVED" to our children surrounded by the deep waters of man centered living in the world and in the so called "church". May we acknowledge that the only reason that we don't do the things in this list on a regular basis is because GOD has caused us to not do these things. He has "shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." All of this because on our very best days - we could not keep one of these things to it's fullest of our own free will! God grant us the grace to live off the fuel of this reality!

DT

What Is True "Profit" for the Believer?

I am afraid that my last article may have been misunderstood a bit. I apologize for not being clear in my communication, which is something I am working on improving. In writing about doing good for your own profit, I think I assumed that you knew what I meant by "profit". Since you may not know what I meant, then you may have perceived my article as supporting a very selfish motive for doing good to others. As I have looked over Galatians 6 and its context, God seems to point out to me that we should not weary of doing good to others because "in due season we will reap(profit), if we do not give up."(v. 9) Now the big question is: What kind of profit is God promising? Verse 8 says that "the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap(profit) eternal life." So the profit is eternal life. I don't believe that Paul was saying that if we do good to others, we will gain eternal life, because he was talking about Spirit-led lives which only would apply to believers. I believe the profit of eternal life means that our eternal life/relationship with God and Jesus would become better and more intimate.

If I do good to others seeking to profit eternal life, this is not a selfish motive but a God-glorifying motive. If I do good to others believing it will bring me closer in my relationship with God, this glorifies God and brings me the highest good possible. If I don't do good to others, I will reap(profit) corruption and death in my spiritual life--my life with God. In obeying the guidance of the Spirit, I must believe that it is for my highest profit, or else I will not obey. If I do not obey, I won't profit and God will not be glorified in my life.

As a side note, David and anyone else who reads these blogs, please feel free to completely disagree in love with whatever I write. I cannot grow (as much as I want to) in my communication skills and my daily walk without your exhortations in my life daily. Spiritual edification is one of the reasons for this site, right?

JT