Category: Romans

Accept everyone… no exceptions

Romans 15:7 (NLT) 7 Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

The word “accept” loses some of the intent of the original Greek for this word. The word is proslambano which is a very intimate word… giving access to one’s heart…

Verse 5 tells us that this passage is about believers… accepting other believers. I find this difficult with some believers. There are some people, quite frankly, that just get on my last nerve. God calls me to give them access to my heart. God calls me to be Jesus with skin to them.

The only way to do that for me is for me to get out of the way and let Him who died for them love and accept them through me. Again it leads to Gal 2:20. It seems of late that all roads go there.

Daddy, thank you for your word. Help me to live it out in Christ and not try to live it under my own power. You love everyone the same. Everyone is your favorite. Help me show that to others by the way I accept them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Through His Eyes…

James 2:1-13 (NLT)

For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. 3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, 4 doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? (James 2:2-4 NLT)

How often have I stopped at an intersection because of a red light and seen a panhandler working the intersection looking for “donations” to his/her cause and gone into “lockdown” mode – locking the car doors and looking straight ahead daring NOT to look them in the eyes? It has happened often. Yet as I read this passage today, that’s the first picture I got. The second picture I got – immediately behind the first – is the same intersection but Firemen working the intersection looking for a donation to his/her cause. In this scenario, I react totally opposite. If I have loose change, I give it to them. I always smile and wave at the fireman, even if I don’t have anything to give.

Why? Exactly this verse. I am judging the person by their exterior. Yes, our culture today and often the intersections have something to do with how “safe” I feel for me and my family, but if I’m honest, it is no different than James 2:2-4.

It’s not just with such drastic differences either. I know myself. It is just as easy for me to show favoritism (a really nice way of saying ‘being prejudice’ or judging) to those ‘of significance.’ For example, given the opportunity to meet Stephen Curtis Chapman or the dude on the 3rd row of the 2nd service at church, guess where my attention is going to be?

Is the fireman any different than the beggar in the eyes of God? Is Stephen Curtis Chapman any better than the guy at church in the eyes of God? Am I any different or any better than any of them in the eyes of God?

Nope. Actually, the answer is a resounding ‘NO!’

It goes on an on. It could just as easily relate to those with whom we have a common interest versus those we don’t; those who are easy to get along with versus those it is a struggle to have conversation with; those who are obnoxious versus those who are fun; boring versus exciting; pretty versus ugly; it really doesn’t matter in God’s eyes.

His eyes – His vision – His perspective is the only one that counts. It’s the only thing that matters. James 2:5-14 go on to make that exact point. We are all sinners. We have all broken His law. We have all fallen short of His glory (Romans 3:23).

James 2:14-26

Originally, I thought this was unrelated, but it is not. My actions (my deeds) define my faith. If I have no deeds, I have no faith because it is dead. A dead faith is not a faith at all. Faith – true, living, vibrant faith in God – produces actions/deeds that are driven by my faith. I don’t choose the action, I just choose to be obedient to God’s directive. This is the example of Abraham placing Issac on the altar. God directed his actions and because of his faith, he obeyed.

I know people who let their actions drive their faith. It a natural extension of their ‘religion’. Actions do not create faith. Faith isn’t motivated by actions. Faith isn’t driven or created by actions / deeds / “do and don’t” commands. This kind of faith is a Works-Based faith, which the Lord clearly speaks about in Romans 4:1-5 (The Message):

So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own. If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

The deception in that kind of thinking – that kind of ‘religion’ – is that instead of actions being directed BY God, they are directed AT God. Minor words… MAJOR difference!

How I view others is just one “deed” that needs to change.

Dad, today let me see others through Your eyes, Your perspective today. Destroy the preconceived ideas I have about people that color my vision and skew my attitudes towards them. Replace them with your perfect love today. In that perfect love, drive my actions to those things that bring you Glory. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Deception abounds

James 1; Romans 14

Romans 14:12-15:6 talks about what one person does (or doesn’t do) to honor the Lord vs. what another person does or doesn’t do. We shouldn’t judge the actions of another because we are “more spiritually mature” than they are.

[It would be interesting to continue down this thought and compare it to “let the little children come unto me” – something I may do in the near future.]

We are to live our lives in a way that doesn’t make another stumble. Being aware of how our actions could affect another person’s walk is the marching order given. The deception comes when we are concerned about what another person thinks.

Hebrews 10:24 (NIV) 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

James 1:7-8 (NLT) references those people who ask God, but their faith isn’t completely in God alone. The deception referenced in v7-8 is that of expectations. The expectation that God is a genie and will give me what I ask, period; that I can control God – to some degree. Verse 8 says “Their loyalty is divided between God and the world…” and goes on to describe their instability in EVERYTHING THEY DO.

I am becoming a firm believer in uncovering any deception I may believe… asking Father to reveal anything that I believe that is not in line with His Word and His Truth.

New Clothes

James 4:1-4 (NIV) What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

OK. The Lord must be trying to get my attention. This is the third day in a row where the word desire (that which conceives temptation – James 1) is highlighted. I’m guessing this is important. As I’ve postulated, what I desire is based on what I believe, which is where the enemy can deceive me – by “misinformation” of what is good, right, and scriptural.

James 1 warns that desire leads to temptation. James 4 tells us it will do more than that. It will lead to quarrels and fights; coveting; stealing; murder – those are all from verse 2. Verse 3 says it can lead to our own pride and a dismissing of God for provision for aide, for whatever we need, or that we’ll try to manipulate God to give us what we “want” under the guise of something else. Wow! Talk about being deceived… to think that we can outsmart the One who created us! How foolish is that! Verse 4 says that we will befriend the world – the creation – in lieu of the Creator.  And in God’s deal, you can’t be friends to both… We  are called to stand on one side or the other.  We can’t sit on the fence.  We’re either for God or againt Him.  That’s not a decision I want to make in the midst of being deceived… in the midst of unholy desires.

Deception, desires… bad stuff.

By no accident (thank you Lord) I also read Romans 13 today in my attempt to continue in Romans. Check out the this verse. Here is the antidote to errant desires.

Rom 13:14 (ESV) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

What the ESV translates as “put on” literally means to clothe myself in Jesus Christ. My question then becomes… what does that look like? How do I clothe myself in Christ? By living out Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“

Daddy, I die to myself today.  I die to my desire.  I die to everything I “think”.  I die to my flesh, my mind, my soul.  I ask you to take control and live today for me.  Put my flesh on like a suit and walk around in me today so that those around me see, feel, and hear Jesus, not Bryan.  In Jesus’ Name, let it be.

A checklist for living

Romans 12:9-18 (Various translations)

As I read, and re-read, and re-read, and looked at the Greek meanings of some of the words, I kept hearing “I put this stuff here for a reason… read it… learn it… live it.”  So given that, I’m going to take different phrases from different translations to make a “checklist” of sorts on the how we are to live this life with each other.

  • Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. (The Message)
  • Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. (NKJV)
  • Love one another with brotherly affection (ESV)
  • Outdo one another in showing honor (ESV) / Practice playing second fiddle (The Message)
  • Never be lazy but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically (NLT)
  • Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (ESV)
  • When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. (NLT)
  • Be inventive in hospitality. (The Message)
  • Bless those who persecute you [who are cruel in their attitude toward you] (The Amplified Bible)
  • no cursing under your breath (The Message)
  • Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. (ESV)
  • Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. (The Message)
  • Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble [aiming to be above reproach] in the sight of everyone. (The Amplified Bible)
  • If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (NIV)

What else really needs to be said except I have a REALLY long way to go…  Some of these I’m doing OK in.  Some of these – you would think – I’ve never seen before.  It’s a love/hate thing.  I love when these lists are put in there for us to grow into and I hate seeing how far short I fall.  Thank you Lord that you love me anyway and that I can’t do any of it on my own.  All I can do is surrender and allow Him to live these things through me (Gal 2:20).

My measure of faith…

Romans 12:3 (ESV) For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

It’s interesting to read this verse. For several months, the Lord has been swatting me like I swat my dog with a newspaper. He get’s my attention every time I say something derogatory or “down” on anyone – particularly those that SOME might call “idiots” or “in-bred morons” – as my earthly father likes to say. Any time I have a thought about the stupidity or aloofness of someone else, Papa get’s my attention and asks me a very serious question. “Do you think you’re any better?”

In stupidity, I used to answer “Well.. yeah… blah blah blah!”  Where I would wax poetics about all the stuff I do for Him – like He doesn’t see or hear or know already.  I’d tell him about how much I love and serve Him, my wife, my family, blah, blah, blah.  But thankfully, He didn’t just zap me and put me out of my misery, instead he reminds me of Isaiah 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…”  It’s a pretty effective tool to be reminded that Papa is SO HOLY that no matter what awesome things I do, I’m bringing soiled feminine products to Him as a gift.

This all started with the reading of a book that totally changed the way I think and outside of the Holy Bible, has impacted me more than any other book I’ve ever read. Humility by Andrew Murray is that book. That book has forced me to reconsider who I am and who He is. In the light of Him – which, by the way, is the only true measurement – I am nothing and I am no better than anyone else. Jesus loves everyone else just as much as He loves me. Every one of us are His favorite.

This verse is a great reminder of that truth, that I need to remember. I love the way Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message.

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. (Romans 12:3, The Message)

It’s all about Him. It ain’t about me. The part I don’t understand is the last sentence of the ESV version. “…but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” What is that about? How I view myself – how soberly I judge myself – is somehow connected or related to how much faith I have been given? Wow. That’s an interesting thought.

If I’ve been apportioned faith, does that apportionment ever increase or decrease? If so, how? Interesting study this will be…

Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1-2 (Amplified Bible)
1 I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

I’m floored again at the connection between the flesh, the soul (inclusive of the mind), and the spirit. My “decisive dedication” of all my body – flesh and mind – is worship. The word translated spiritual, is logikos which is much more related to the mind and to reason and logic. No wonder verse 12 is about the renewing of my mind as the key to transformation. (See “The Command Center” and “Battleground of the Soul” to get the whole chain of thought…)

Obviously, this is important.

Action Item: Detail “renewing” my mind.  What does that look like?  Is there a scriptural recipie for it?

Irrevocable…

Romans 11:29 (ESV) “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

“gifts” – charisma – 1 a favour with which one receives without any merit of his own. 2 the gift of divine grace. 3 the gift of faith, knowledge, holiness, virtue. 4 the economy of divine grace, by which the pardon of sin and eternal salvation is appointed to sinners in consideration of the merits of Christ laid hold of by faith. (Rom 1:11; 5:15; 6:23; 11:29; 12:6; 1Cor 1:7; 7:7; 12:4; 2Cor 1:11; 1Tim 4:14; 2Tim 1:6; 1Pet 4:10)

“call” – klesis – basically means vocation and a divine invitation, but comes from the word kaleo, which implies to receive a name or to bear a title.

“irrevocable” – ametameletos – Strong’s Lexicon says “Two occurrences; AV translates as “without repentance” once, and “not to be repented of” once. 1 not repentant of, unregretted.

This is interesting because “to repent” means “to change one’s mind.” It basically means to do a 180 and go the other direction.

Substituting those meanings into this verse makes it read much different.

God’s divine gift of grace – my eternal salvation – and my calling – my vocational call, my title, my position in life, my destiny – if you will – is something that God has given me, granted me and will not change His mind on… ever.

The cool – and freeing – thing to me is that I can’t do anything to “undo” His gift.  I can’t remove myself from his list.  I can’t do anything that will make Him rescind his gift or my calling.  Those things that affect my relationship with Him (sin, unforgiveness, disobedience, etc) can greatly affect my effectiveness in my calling, but it can’t change my calling.

So, how do I become as effective as possible?  How do I walk in and know what my calling is?  That is the question.

Drawing Near…

All day today I have been mulling over yesterday’s post.  Dad chose me.

I’m not a robot and God didn’t ordain that I would accept or pursue him.  But he did say “This one can find me if he looks for me.” 

James says “Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.”  I’m so familiar with that verse.  But what rocks me is that there are those people who may never be able to draw near to God – no matter how hard they try – because God didn’t ordain that.

God ordained that I would – if I choose to – draw near to Him so that He would in turn draw near to me.  Wow.  This still rocks me.

Thank you Dad for choosing me.  I choose to draw near to You today.  I love you.  Amen.

Grateful…

Romans 11:7 (NLT) “7 So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened.”

Only one greek lesson today: The NLT translates this word into “chosen.”

ekloge /ek·log·ay/ 1 the act of picking out, choosing. 1a of the act of God’s free will by which before the foundation of the world he decreed his blessings to certain persons. 1b the decree made from choice by which he determined to bless certain persons through Christ by grace alone. 2 a thing or person chosen. 2a of persons: God’s elect.

If I understand this verse, God has chosen those who have found Him and His favor. The inverse of that is that there are those whom God has not allowed to find him, regardless of their earnestness, diligence and passion. This is something I can’t wrap my head around, but I am grateful. I’m grateful that God, in His mercy, chose me to be one of those people who “gets” to find Him and His favor.

The more I have pondered this the more freeing I realize it is, once we really grasp the reality of it.  I don’t get it.  I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!  Were it not for God choosing me, it wouldn’t even matter, because no matter how I searched, I could not find Him. Man, that rocks my world!

Papa, I am so thankful and grateful for your grace and love. Why you’ve chosen me to be one of your own I have no idea, because I certainly don’t deserve the grace and mercy you show me daily. Thank you. My prayer is that I never take advantage of your love, grace, and mercy and the fact that I have been chosen to find you. I pray that I never forget that I am only yours because You chose me. Bless your name.