March 9: Romans 10:6-13

Key Verse: Romans 10:10
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.

Devotion:
How often do you get frustrated with trying to get people to believe in God and to trust Christ as their Saviour? We may not have the task of looking after a whole congregation, but God still wants us to be able to share the gospel with the people He has given us in our lives – how we go about that may well do the exact opposite of what we are trying to do!

Paul was stuck between the rock (which was the Roman way) and a hard place (which was the Jewish way) and must have found it most frustrating trying to tell them the gospel, that is, both sides! That is why I find these words so fascinating and to me gives me hope that the Holy Spirit can give me the words to tell my friends and families which will make the biggest difference in their lives. If you are like me, you may well struggle with that sometimes…

The Romans wanted a clear set of rules which would show them who is going to Heaven and who is going to hell – their way of life was based around rules and everyone was expected to stick to those rules. The Jews were entrenched in their rules from the Torah which gave them an impossible task to live up to and one which they would have to continue sacrificing in order to hope that God would forgive them!

What Christ did was to bridge that gap by giving up His own sinless life in our stead. He was the ultimate sacrifice and covered all of our sins in a single act on our behalf. We don’t have to have Him go through all of that again, just in case! We don’t have to argue about who is getting to Heaven and who has failed to follow the right rules. It is a personal thing between each one of us and God where we step forward and ask Him, personally, for forgiveness for the things we have done wrong… Our belief (our trust or the faith we have) gives us the answer based on His promise to us all. We believe in our hearts and profess with our mouths. We have one God who has done this for us all!

Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard to not judge people?

Will you give someone the gospel and allow them to come to Christ by themselves?