Saturday 15 Jun 2013

Saturday Reading: Romans 15:8-13

Key Verse: Romans 15:13
13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Devotion:
When Christ came to earth He was born and lived as a Jew and fulfilled the prophecies and promises relating to the Jews, God’s chosen race. But that certainly was not the limit of His life otherwise we would not be bound by the Word of God. Christ died for all and not just the Jews promising to have the Holy Spirit return to all men to bring forgiveness to every person who believes in Him within their hearts.

Just like the Jews were commanded to praise God, we too are called to praise Him for all that He has done for all of us from the beginning of time. Christ created the world for all of us. Christ knew that all of us would sin. Christ loves all of us. And if we don’t quite get the fact that Christ has done this all for us, then we really do need to read about it again. People like to miss out the parts of the bible that they do not understand or the parts that make them feel bad. Christ went through it all, every single step of the way, without missing a single step.

Christ has displayed His love for us quite openly and not being hidden from anyone; He did this so that we would know that we all do need to seek Him openly too. He continues to make sure that His gospel is taught to all men and not just limited to the Jews. He even sent out some very special people to teach the gentiles all about the gospel so that they could have the same choices as the Jews. Christ continues to make sure that His Word is heard all around the world to all people so that we all get to hear the same truth.

Christ has gone every step of the way to make sure that we can all be reconciled to God the Father through Him and to one another, being Jew or Gentile. Much of our bibles are aimed directly at the Jews to make sure that they understand the gospel and not to be trapped in religion. The prophecies that were fulfilled by Christ were to show the Jews that everything God had given them through the prophets in the Old Testament was now coming to fruition. Christ wanted us all to see that God laid down the law, upheld the law when others did not, fulfilled the law as laid down to the Jews and expanded on God’s promises to show us all the truth. He did this all using His chosen people, the Jews. Each of us, Jew and Gentile, have the Holy Spirit abiding in us when we accept that truth He has shown us and accept Him as Lord and Saviour.

Points to Ponder:
Do you see the bible as a Jewish law book?

Are you trying to limit Christ’s fulfilments?