DAILY DEVOTIONAL ON ROMANS 1:7
“LOVED”
- As shared by Rev. Don Schink © 2010
“TO ALL IN ROME WHO ARE LOVED BY GOD AND CALLED TO BE SAINTS: GRACE AND PEACE TO YOU FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST” (NIV)
God’s love has no borders or boundaries. His love reaches out to all raves and colors. “Whoever chooses to do so may come to Him! All, even in Rome, who will accept it, can realize and can experience firsthand God’s love in Christ. Whoever accepts it can realize the grace and the peace that only comes from a right relationship that is only available from God through salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord! Again, as I often quote, in John 14:6, we read the words of Jesus, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to that Father except through Me.”
There’s just something about knowing that someone really loves and cares for us that we find really uplifting. We all need to love and be loved. To lack a true sense of a love relationship leaves a deep void (emptiness) within such a one’s heart. Even when we’re busy or unable to be together, my wife and I know that we love each other. It is extremely important to both of us that our kids, both natural-born and adopted know that we love them unconditionally. Even if we are at odds over behavioral issues, for example, that need actions such as various forms of discipline, we still deeply love them (three of our adoptive kids are still at home as I write this). We have. We do. We always will. Nothing can take away that bond, - that special love that we have for them.
God’s love to those in Rome as well as to us, today, is a very deep, abiding and special love. He may not approve of some of our choices. We may not like things that we choose to do. Yet God deeply and unconditionally loves each of us. He may discipline us in various ways to bring us to true repentance, - and at times that may seem rather drastic. But He does so out of love, to be redemptive. I tell our kids that we love them too much to let them get away with things that they shouldn’t be doing. God is the same with us. There are certain biblical standards that He expects us to keep up with. He gives us His Spirit to empower and enable us to do so. He doesn’t ask anything of us that He is unwilling to give us what it takes to be victorious.
As we’ve discussed in previous studies, God’s calling is a very special calling. We are His and He is ours. In 1 Peter 2:9-10, the Bible says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. (10) Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” We are not our own. We’ve been bought with a price.
In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, the Bible also says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; (20) You were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” We are called to belong to Jesus Christ!
We are sanctified (set apart) in Christ Jesus. In Christ, we belong to God. In 1 Corinthians 3:23, we read, “And you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” Also, we are admonished to remain in Him. In John 15:1-8, we read, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. (2) He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (3) You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (4) Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. (5) I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned. (7) If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (8) This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” We are called and empowered and enabled in a special calling. We are admonished, as such, to bear much fruit.
As such, there is also an awesome responsibility that we have toward Him. In Romans 6:11-14, the Bible says, “In the same way count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (13) Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. (14) For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
Grace and peace are precious promises. He will grant us special grace and a peace that is beyond human understanding. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, we find where Paul testifies, “But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
In Titus 2:11, we read, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.”
In Ephesians 1:7, the Bible says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” So, again, we are reminded that “grace and peace” are precious promises.
In 1 Peter 5:14, Peter ends with “Peace to all of you who are in Christ.”
So as we abide in Jesus, our eternal welfare and our futures are secure. He Who began to work in our hearts and lives will bring us all the way. As we live with our hearts and lives yielded to His Word and His will for each of us, He will see us through!
For questions and/or comments, please email me at: PastorDonNM@gmail.com
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