🙏🏻 Let these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
I have been looking forward to this time to take a ‘Spiritual Sabbatical.’ A time to reflect, reevaluate, and recharge. Almost five months of 2024 have elapsed; it’s an election year and soon we’ll start seeing Christmas countdowns… I do NOT want to be swept away by the cultural nonsense that is expected. I want to be a careful steward of the gift of time that I’ve been given.
Today seems like the perfect day to start. Here in the United States of America, we are celebrating Memorial Day – a day where we honor those who have lost their lives in military service. We honor them by remembering that our freedom was not free. We are thankful for those who were willing to sacrifice their lives to defend the freedom of their fellow countryman.
But we live in a broken world where sin has marred the beauty of God’s creation. I am saddened to see my own country so divided and I know that if I were to point to the only solution – which is Jesus Christ – there would be outrage as a response. I am thankful that in my country I have the freedom to express my faith in Jesus. Similarly, others have their freedom to express their outrage. And we’d be no closer to unity nor a better world – arguing never changes a heart, only God can do that.
So instead, I review today what ‘FREEDOM’ really means in Scripture. What is the basis of my Christian faith? There are several key statements that the apostle Paul writes in Romans that are sometimes referred to as the Roman Road to faith. This is the gospel message that shows our deliverance from our slavery to sin – i.e. freedom. And while this spiritual freedom is offered as a gift, it was not free. It cost Jesus His life and we call Him our Lord and our Savior. Let’s review.
1) All have sinned – Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Take a look around – none of us are holy humans. Doesn’t matter how you compare with others, we have all sinned.
2) Eternal life is a free gift from God – Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. GOD is GOD, you are not. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think that this is fair, create your own universe and set up your own rules! But in THIS universe – GOD’S universe – if you sin… when you sin… you deserve death. Little sin, big sin, it doesn’t matter – there’s no grading on a curve. You are being thrown a lifeline – only you can decide to hold onto it.
3) Because He loves you, Jesus paid the death penalty for your sins. Confess and repent of your sins against a holy God. – Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for YOU my friend… for ME, too! When you see this truth of what took place at the cross, you will never be the same! (I sinned, I deserved death, God loved me enough to send Jesus to die in my place.)
4) Confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead. – Romans 10:9-10 – If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. This is an open invitation that defies all your concepts of ‘time’. Jesus is not on that cross anymore – the debt has been paid. Jesus did not stay dead either – It is finished. He defeated death for our sakes and was raised again to begin His reign in Heaven. I was born almost 2000 years later just to hear this… accept this… then get ready to enjoy my creator forever and ever – AMEN! 💖 I’ll take it!!!!
5) Ask God to save you and He will. – Romans 10:13 – for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” You cannot be more inclusive than this… ‘everyone’ means everyone!
And yet, not all will be saved. Why? Because they will not profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
What now? As a Christian, my heart breaks for those who refuse the call to repentance. My heart breaks for those who refuse to pray for God to open their hearts and minds to understand the scriptures. God longs for the return of the fellowship between God and man that was present in the Garden of Eden. It will be restored after Jesus returns and recreates the heavens and the earth. All those who have accepted the invitation will enjoy that fellowship forever.
Until His return however, how do we live? Paul gives some guidance here as well”
Romans 5:1 – Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Justified – just-as-if-I’d never sinned!) Whatever happens to us after our moment of salvation here on earth is of little impact compared with our eternal state with God.
Romans 8:1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. At the moment of salvation, we are now ‘in Christi’ – i.e. fit for heaven.
Romans 8:38-39 – For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s a done deal folks – we are forever sealed in the company of saints that will enjoy the presence of God forever. If our day-to-day lives don’t reflect that, we are failing at our calling to be ambassadors that invite others into accepting the gift that will bring them into this kingdom as well.
Heavenly Father – we are forever grateful for Your plan of redemption through Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray for those around us that don’t yet know Your salvation. Show us how to serve you in leading others to Your Kingdom. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.