Friday Reading: Romans 3:1-8
Key Verse: Romans 3:5
5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who lays on wrath? (I speak as a man.)
5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who lays on wrath? (I speak as a man.)
Devotion:
The law cannot save us from our sins. The law cannot be abused to Glorify God. But, the law can be used to give us the knowledge that we need in order to be saved. The Jews had a distinct advantage in that they had the scriptures (the law) from which they could learn what God wanted. It did not mean that every one of them would believe those scriptures. It did not mean that their unbelief nullified the scriptures in any way. It meant that those who were able to learn the truth and act on it were able to forgiven, not through what they did, but through their belief.
The law cannot save us from our sins. The law cannot be abused to Glorify God. But, the law can be used to give us the knowledge that we need in order to be saved. The Jews had a distinct advantage in that they had the scriptures (the law) from which they could learn what God wanted. It did not mean that every one of them would believe those scriptures. It did not mean that their unbelief nullified the scriptures in any way. It meant that those who were able to learn the truth and act on it were able to forgiven, not through what they did, but through their belief.
There is no way that we can justify doing something bad that will “be for the greater good”. By doing that, we are saying that we do not trust in God to be able to do His will and that we have to do something against Him to allow Him to do His will… Not so good when we look at it that way! But that is normally the way that we work… We think that we can break a few rules in order for the rest of the rules to be upheld; but if we were to face God immediately after our doings, would we be able to stand up and tell Him that we went against Him for His sake? Most likely we went against God just because we liked what we were doing!
Our most abused sin is that of telling so called “white lies”. We tell a small lie so that we think that people will find more truth in another place or way. But what we are doing is casting the first stone by saying that it is OK to lie when God has clearly told us in the 10 commandments that we must not lie. Will that small white lie count against us even though God may have been glorified afterwards? Yes! If we want God to be truly glorified, then we have to trust Him to be able to do all that He has said that He will do. Trust Him by listening to Him and obeying Him. It’s not that difficult to listen to our parents so why should it be difficult to listen to God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to your parents?
Do you listen to God?
Do you listen to your parents?
Do you listen to God?