SIMPLE BIBLE TRUTH: ROMANS 1-2

I am going through Romans again starting today. Here are a few thoughts from today's reading.

~It strengthens my faith when I understand how Jesus was prophesied about hundreds of years before His birth. He was the Good News, before Mary gave Joseph the news she had conceived.

~God imparts this good news into our lives and we have tremendous gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit to offer others and each other. We mustn't be ashamed of the Good News or the gifts.

~We live in a world where God is obvious. Just go outside and consider the sky and the earth. Through everything God made there is no question of a divine nature and an eternal power. In reality, I have no excuse for not knowing God.

~Yet even though He is so obvious to us there are many who will NOT worship Him as God. Their resistance to worshiping God leads them to foolish ideas--it gives the mind over to dark and foolish thinking.

~Those who will NOT worship God even though He is so obvious to them claim to be wise; instead, they are fools and start worshiping idols made to look like something God created.

~Eventually these beliefs and thoughts lead to all kinds of junk and God abandons them to their foolishness because they know the way to God, but refuse to acknowledge it--deceiving themselves and others.

~And as bad as that sounds (the previous three), I am just as bad and when I see people like this and say, think or imply they should be punished.

~When I judge I am actually condemning myself.

~God will bring the justice; therefore, I do not have to. Because God is kind and good me, He requires me to be kind and good.

~Ultimately God will judge us all one day, and those who do good will be given eternal life.

~If I choose to do evil and refuse to obey the truth trouble and calamity will come my way, but honor and peace from God will follow me as I do good.

~There is nothing in my life, exposed or in secret, that will not be revealed to God, therefore I never want to suppress the truth and NOT worship God.

~God hates hypocrisy; in fact, because of it many blaspheme the name of God.

~You are not a true Jew because you were born to Jewish parents. A true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. Likewise, you are not a Christian because you were born in a Christian nation, to a Christian family and go to a Christian church. A true Christian is one whose heart is right with God.

Final Thought: These first two chapters of Romans are intense to say the least. Anytime the Bible talks about sin and the "way that leads to death" I pay attention. Usually there is something revealed in me as I read that I need to chuck far from my life. As we continue through Romans watch as God, through Paul, masterfully leads us from a state of sin, to a state of righteousness with God.