Wednesday Reading: Romans 11:28-32
Key Verse: Romans 11:29
29 For the free gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Devotion:
Isn’t it wonderful that our God is so great and wonderful that He gives us gifts without repentance! We are not talking about gifts such as life, strength, riches and the like but of God’s spiritual gifts to us. I’m sure that there has been times when we have all felt dismayed by the way that others have treated the gifts that we have given them, and indeed we have times in our bibles where God has repented of the gifts of land and honour that He has given to Israel when they have turned their backs on Him; but there are some things that we give to others that we do not repent of, even when they treat our gifts badly. Think now of the number of things that God has given to us and think of how we have treated them...
The most important gift that He has given to us is that of obtaining eternal life through believing in Him. This is a gift that He has openly given to all and one that will dictate our future. We are shown His amazing grace through what He has done for us so that we may be forgiven for the sins that we have done against Him; but whether we accept that grace and move to believe in Him or reject that grace is our choice. That choice will then dictate whether we spend eternity with Him or without. It does not matter that we only turn to Him after a long life – so long as we do turn to Him in belief... the only thing that matters is that we do turn to Him before it is too late. Unfortunately for us we do not know the time that He will return, so we need to be ready as soon as possible!
It does not matter that we have been the “worst sinner possible”. It does not matter that we may have been “against God”. The thing that matters is that we do now believe in God and that we now know His grace and mercy. He has allowed us to go off in our sinful ways so that we will ultimately know His mercy. It is through that mercy that we are strengthened and can then show others just how wonderful our God really is! When we show others mercy they will see in us how merciful a Father we have.
Points to Ponder:
Do you get upset by what others do?
Are you upsetting God through your actions?
