Saturday, March 17: Romans 1- The sad exchange people have made.

 

It feels so good to have my eyes read and my heart listen to Romans. I understand 2Chronicles is God's Word and therefore is profitable to read and study. However, some books of the Bible breathe spiritual life into me better than others. However, after spending almost 2 months in 1&2Chronicles Romans is a breath of life for my soul.

Paul paints a sad picture of much of humanity. We have looked every way for spiritual value except to the Lord. Verse 25 sums up the situation: They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

They exchanged… this suggests that they made a willful decision not to follow the ways of God. Consciously or unconsciously most people choose to go their own way rather than the Lord's way.

As the popular Frank Sinatra song put it, "I did it my way…" This sentiment sounds good, but when we stop to parse what is being said, it is a lyric about captaining ones' own ship… no need for God and potentially no need for others. It is the lack of need for God that is the real problem spiritually because the message of the Bible is that no one can save themselves. We need a savior, who is Jesus Christ the Lord.

Looking back to verse 25, Paul notes people maintained a spirituality but they choose to follow any number of gods but not the Lord.  That remains so true today… 'self help' books, gurus of this and that offer people a path, but it is not the Lord's path they are following. Ultimately this will lead to their destruction… (We will read about this in coming chapters.)

For today, I am thankful for the Lord and His way and I pray that I live faithfully before the Lord day by day.

Thanks be to God for Jesus… the way of salvation. With Paul I say, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes… (16). Lord, You brought salvation to me and for that I am eternally grateful. I pray this and all my prayers in my Savior Jesus' name. Amen.