Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not only one of the longest sentences I have ever read but it is packed with theological and practical implications. The biggest lesson that God has been teaching me recently is that I belong to him. Many things in this world are fighting for my allegiance. There are things that are not sinful in themselves that call me to put them ahead of everything else. The United States says that we should be patriotic and hold it in high regard. Now there is nothing wrong in itself to enjoy your country and be excited to be live there. The problem is that the law says that the American flag needs to be flown about all others. Now here is where I have a problem with that. At Crown College there are 3 flags that get flown in front of it there is the Crown College flag then above that comes the Christian flag then, by law, the American flag is flown higher than both of them. Now, you may be saying Travis this doesn't even matter! And maybe it doesn't however when I belong to Christ he comes before everything else in my life. And if that is the case then a law that makes me place a national flag over the flag of the Kingdom of God is not something that I am down for. Now loving America and the things that come with it isn't the problem. The problem is that it fights for my allegiance when my allegiance is to be only directed and attached to God.
That is just one example of something that in itself is not bad or sinful. But if we were honest there are an endless amount of things that we could think of that fight for our allegiance. For me the biggest toughest fight is the one with my selfish self. I am always trying to think of ways to better my situation. I am looking out for my best interests and trying to do what I can for myself. I don't stop at the side of the road for the person who has a flat tire or engine trouble because I need to get somewhere and if I were to stop I would be late. The battle within myself and the fight to die to myself and follow Christ to the best of my ability. That is my struggle and my fight that the Lord will help me with! I thank God that he is there for me and cares about me. The section at the beginning of this post is from Paul's opening in Romans. Later Paul writes this in Romans 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. This is my hope that he has called me, justified me and will one day bring me to glorification (perfection). The battle rages on inside me but I know the real war is in the hands of the Father who loves me.
Who do you belong to?
