We continued in the study “It Could Only Be Jesus” beginning with reading Romans 3:1-4, and verses 9-20, where we find Paul continuing to talk about sin and the Law.
“J.B. Phillips’ paraphrase of Romans 3:20 sheds light on the purpose of the Law, “Indeed it is the straightedge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.”
(from It Could Only Be Jesus, page 14)
I wonder if we truly see ourselves as “crooked” or do we make excuses for our sin. We can so easily see what is wrong in others, but in ourselves, it becomes more difficult.
Hence, we need the Scriptures to point us back to God.
~*~*~
We continued with Romans 4:13-25 where Paul speaks of the promises and faith.
This chapter brings the reminder that the promises are for us as well as Abraham. We are part of that which was promised to him.
Abraham …
- “in hope against hope he believed” (verse 18)
- “without becoming weak in faith” he believed (verse 19)
- he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God” (verse 20)
- “was fully assured that what God promised He was also able to perform” (verse 21)
This is the faith we are to have every day, all the time, no matter the circumstances in our lives.
The study reading brought to mind two quotes by Corrie ten Boom on faith:
“Faith is the radar that sees through the fog – the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.”
“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.”
Has God been faithful in your life when you thought it was impossible? Or perhaps you are currently in the fog, desperately holding onto faith?
May we be found standing faithful to the One who is able!
~*~*~
The week came to a close with Romans 5:12-21. The overarching thought of these verses is the grace of God. Don’t miss it in these verses:
“ … much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many” (verse 15, NASB)
” … the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (verse 17, NASB)
“ … but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (verse 20, NASB)
Grace abounds.
It was that word ‘abounds’ which grabbed my attention. It has been defined as: “to occur or exist in great quantities or numbers; to be rich or well supplied; to be filled or teeming with” (from dictionary.com).
Think about the ways His grace abounds to each one of us personally. Don’t miss His grace at work in your life.
~*~*~
The Law points us to Jesus,
giving us strength to stand faithful to Him,
because of His abounding grace towards us.
Photo 1: by Cdoncel on Unsplash
Photo 2: by Pete Nuij on Unsplash
Photo 3: by Gavin Tyte on Unsplash
Today I am joining …
Great reminder and opportunity to consider that without Christ, we have no real hope. While I often view myself as a sinner in dirty rags, I remember that God doesn’t see me in that way. He sees what I will become upon His glorification and completion of my salvation. He sees His Son, who paid the price for my sinful human life. How can we repay that? We can’t! We can only do our best to honor that by growing in Him and in our faith. Well said author!
Those two quotes by Corrie ten Boom are so encouraging, Joanne. It’s comforting to remember and believe that God is still working, even when my faith feels weak. And also that He doesn’t just offer a little grace, but abounding grace. 🙂