October 16: Romans 1:1-7
Key Verse: Romans 1:5
Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.
Devotion:
I love the way Paul starts with the words he is called to be an apostle and set apart FOR the gospel of God. When we think about what we are and what we are called to do, how would we describe our positions as being. I did not accept I would be called to share the gospel with others in the beginning – indeed I ran away from God for quite a while, but He caught up to me!
Paul must have had second thoughts when he first realise he was called to reach out to the ‘Gentiles’ or the Romans with the gospel… why should they be singled out for God’s wonderful gospel which the people of Israel had been singled out for in the beginning.
This is the wonderful world which God has presented to us and in which we live. Nobody must be left out just because they were born in a different place or because they were brought up to worship anything else others than God! The best thing we can ever do is to continue spreading the gospel of Christ out to everyone. This does not have to be done by us standing on soap boxes and shouting out the Word of God to all passing people… it could just be us doing things which Christians do in front of other so they start asking ‘why?’
God is the one who can change people’s hearts and He alone is responsible for them. We just need to open the scene to show things can be different. We just have to show the different way of living and open up our lives for others to come and enjoy Christ with us. Be yourself with Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you shy away from sharing the gospel?
Do you not see the gospel is the way we live?