God Remains Faithful
Romans 3:1-8 NLT
“2...the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God. 3 True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? 4 Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true.” [Ro. 3:2b-4b]
The Jews were God’s chosen people, entrusted with God’s whole revelation, yet they established their own version of God’s Laws by adding to it and taking away what they didn’t like. As a result the Jewish believers were unfaithful to the Mosaic Law by altering that which has been presented to Moses by the Lord on Mount Sinai. Their actions made them essentially unfaithful to their God. In spite of their actions God remained and remains faithful. God/Jesus is the Alpha & Omega...the Beginning & the End. As Paul points out in our text on top, “Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true.” He is the only one in all of creation that can be completely, totally, and forevermore trusted in and with all things. God is not a swindler. He doesn’t make promises He’s unable to keep.
Today, when called upon to follow God’s Law many of us make excuses, just as the Jews did. Too many people have turned their understanding of the Law on its head, thus becoming unfaithful. Excuses abound that sound something like this: “There is no God.”; “I follow my conscience.”; “I’m not as bad as other people”; “I’m a church member”; “I’m a religious person” or the ever popular, “I’m spiritual.”. * In spite of our many excuses, no one will be exempt from God’s judgment.
As believers today, we’ve been saved by God’s grace and while we are not subjugated to the Law, because of our newfound relationship we end up living the Law as a positive consequence of our new life. Should we slip up, God’s grace rings forgiveness when asked for it. We aren’t perfect. Only Jesus was perfect. Because we’ll never reach perfection this side of heaven is no reason not to strive for it.
The Jewish believers in Rome fluctuated between being faithful and unfaithful to their God. We’re no different, however, we should want to be faithful because of what He had willingly done for us. It’s far too easy to take God’s grace for granted. The way many see it is that 1) it’s God’s job to forgive us; 2) God is loving & merciful so He won’t judge us; 3) sin isn’t so bad - it teaches us valuable lessons; or 4) we need to stay in touch with the culture around us. Understand this - God cannot and will not overlook sin. Regardless of how we look at sin, it is a contradiction of who God is and what He represents. Sin has no place with God. Regardless of their salvation status, sin brings about consequences which are typically unfavorable. Next time we will look at the fact that ALL SIN and fall short of God’s glory. ... walk with the King and be a blessing.
In His name & for His glory,
Richard Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
* As a side note, Christianity isn’t a religion, but rather an intimate, personal relationship that ANYONE can enter into. There’s no secret password or rule that needs to be followed to enter into this type of relationship. It’s all based on our faith and trust in God, asking for and receiving forgiveness for all our transgressions [Salvation / Redemption], then allowing the Spirit now within to enable you to become like Jesus in thought, word, and deed.
No comments:
Post a Comment