February 11: Romans 11 1-6
Key Verse: Romans 11 6
And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Devotion:
God has always tried to make sure people understood it was and is because of grace we are chosen to be His children and His remanent. Out of all the people who had been taken out of Egypt and brought to the promised land, only a few thousand did not bow down before Baal. How many more thousands had bowed down to other gods, and yet God was willing to show them grace and mercy and bring them back into His fold.
It was not what they had done, what they had managed to keep to or what they had achieved. It was because of God’s grace the people were being called back into the fold. Without that grace and mercy, people simply would not have a chance! We are all sinners and we all get things wrong – we may well pray to God alone and not to any other gods, but we still manage to get things wrong and sin before our God!
It is His choice to show us grace and mercy and nothing else can be held up as being the reason why He has chosen us! No matter how hard we try to stick to the rules and how much we succeed, it is still God’s choice in the end. Because is this message and because of God’s promises, I know I can stand firm in those promises and expect to be taken to be with Him in heaven in the end! I know I have fallen short of the mark and I know I still break rules – but I also know God shows grace and mercy!
No matter how far you have wondered from the trail, no matter how much you think you have done wrong, nothing can compare to the grace and mercy God has to show for us. His grace is able to cover all and forgive all. We just need to step forward and ask for that grace to cover us as well. If we are not willing to admit God is God alone and that Christ came to die on the cross and be raised up to cover our sins, then God will have to continue waiting patiently until we do ask – He will not force this choice on anyone...
Points to Ponder:
Do you wonder whether you are good enough?
Don’t you know your sins have been covered by Christ and you are free?
