Tuesday 19 Feb 2019

February 19: Romans 10:5-13

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:
After Jesus died and resurrected, the disciples went about trying to tell people all they had learned from Jesus and to allow other people to get to know just how much Jesus does for us. Part of that truth was telling them just what it means to make the decision to follow Christ and His teaching. In this letter to the Romans, the disciple is saying we do not have to be raised in the right place or by the right people but simple to make the decision for ourselves to follow Christ.

It is also a life changing decision to follow Christ. It not only allows us to make informed decisions about ourselves and our futures but gives us the chance of a new life. Yes, we do have a new life in Christ, but our physical lives can change too. When we do have the choice in front of us, we can make a better choice. It may be hard to make the choice and it may seem like an impossible choice to make, but we do have a new strength in Christ and in this new family called the church.

Another thing raised here is that it is our belief which is going to make the difference and not just what we happen to say in the heat of the moment. What we believe in our hearts is going to be seen by Christ and that is how He will know whether we mean it or not. People around us are going to make it sound like we are going to be persecuted or hated for making this choice – because they are scared to make the choice & it is simpler to keep you from making the choice than them feeling left out of it afterwards.

And then there was probably the most important phrase in this letter for the Romans: it does not matter whether you are born as a Jew or born as anything else! Just because God chose the people of Israel to be the example by which He would bring about change, does not mean all the rest of us are left behind! Christ judges by what He sees in our hearts – the choices we make for our own selves. He does not take too much notice of the other choices we make in the heat of the moment or those we are pressured into making – it is the choices we make in our hearts which count!

Points to Ponder:
What does your heart say about the people you love?

What does your heart say about Christ?