Greeting

Welcome to Dan's Daily Dig, a personal journey to dig into the Bible one chapter a day and grow spiritually. The goal is to read and reflect on each chapter using the following four questions:

1. What stood out to me from this chapter?
2. How does this relate to any other Scripture I know?
3. What does this mean for my life?
4. What questions do I have about this passage?

This blog is intended to provide both accountability for me to keep pressing on in this quest, and an invitation for any reader to join me any day or everyday. Simply read the selected chapter (it only takes about 5 minutes), and then respond using any or all of the four questions. It's supposed to be simple, but I hope to learn from others as well. I plan to share the blog as well on my twitter feed daily, so follow @DanBoji if you want to get the alert to the blog's posting. You can also subscribe by e-mail or another RSS feed on the right side of the screen. God's blessings.

In Christ,
Dan

Sunday, November 16, 2014

#Romans1 - Danger and Salvation

As I finished reading the book of Acts, I decided to go to the next book of the bible and continue my journey of reading a chapter a day. Romans is a letter, written by Paul to the believers in Rome. Rome is where Paul's journey ended in the book of Acts, and according to traditional understanding is also where his life ended. Romans is also one of the key books of the Bible that inspired Martin Luther some 500 years ago to post his 95 theses on the door of the Catholic church which ultimately inspired the Reformation and led to people reading the Bible for themselves. So I am very excited to dig in. HERE WE GO!


1. What stuck out to you from this chapter?

After his greetings and personal statements, Paul gets into some theological statements pretty quickly, but they aren't pretty at all. He begins with the wrath of God. It's a topic most people would just rather ignore, erase out of the Bible, or close their eyes and plug their ears and hum a merry tune while it's being read. We say God is loving, we say God is perfect, and we say God is holy. How can God be a loving, holy, perfect God and let the guilty go unpunished. I recently heard a sermon that rightly pointed out that if we are the ones who are wronged or hurt, we cry out to God for punishment and judgement. But when we are guilty, we like to just cling to the mercy and grace of God. So the fact that Paul starts out speaking about God's wrath makes me think we need to stop and realize that it's a big deal. There is a danger of living in our sin without repenting. God will not force us to change our destructive, disobedient behavior, but he will not let us "off the hook" forever. God's wrath is real and we need a way to escape it.

2. How does this passage relate to any other Scripture you know?

This chapter contains a list of behaviors God clearly calls sinful. At a retreat recently, I shared about these kinds of lists not as a overly-strict fun-hating God, but as a map through a mine field. Wouldn't you appreciate someone telling you where the mines were so you could avoid them and the destruction that comes with them? That's what God does in Scripture. This list includes behaviors and attitudes like not being thankful to God, worshipping idols, homosexual behavior, greed, envy, murder, gossip, arrogant, boastful, disobedient to parents, etc. There are other lists that are very similar in Scripture. Some are found in Galatians 5, Colossians 3, 1 Corinthians 6, and Ephesians 4. It would be really easy to think that these lists are for other people, the "really bad ones." But the truth is, I bet it would be rare for anyone to look at all of these lists and not find themselves having done some of these things. It just really reminds me that we need God.

3. What does this mean for my life?

In Romans 1:16, Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes..." I want to live my life unashamed of the gospel, not being afraid to share of God's love, God's judgment, God's mercy and grace in providing Jesus, and God's promise of eternal life to all who believe in Jesus. Ironically, this verse in Romans is the theme verse for the Recharge youth retreats at Ingham Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camps in the spring.

4. What questions do I have about this passage?

I have heard verses 18-20 used as a way of saying something like, "Everyone in the world sees creation and therefore is expected to worship God, or what they know of God through creation. Therefore everyone who does not believe in this way is guilty (people are without excuse)." My question is whether or not this is a valid approach to understanding this verse. My struggle is that I just don't think people would naturally make the leap from, "Wow, what a pretty sunset" to "I need to trust Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins and salvation of my soul right now." So I'm just not exactly sure how to take this part.

Hope you're able to join me in reading through Romans. Please feel free to leave a comment. It can be a response to any or all of the four questions, or to something I wrote. Either way I hope you read the chapter and use this to keep digging deeper into God's word.

In Christ,
Dan
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2 comments:

  1. MechManNovember 27, 2014 at 9:43 AM

    "I bet it would be rare for anyone to look at all of these lists and not find themselves having done some of these things." Rare? I think it would be impossible...

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    1. UnknownNovember 29, 2014 at 4:59 AM

      MechMan, you're right. I think I was being generous and leaving the slightest bit of breathing room that someone may not have struggled with one of these specific items in these lists, even though it is the most remote of possibilities. If we look at the Bible as a whole, it becomes 100% crystal clear that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Thanks for your comment.

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