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Romans 9

Imagine you’re standing by a railroad track. In the distance, you see five people tied to the rails. A train is coming, and death is certain.

This well-known psychological and ethical thought experiment challenges us to make a terrible choice. In its classic form, you can pull a lever to divert the train, sacrificing one person to save five.

But today, the scenario gets more personal. Instead of pulling a lever, imagine the only way to stop the train is by throwing yourself on the tracks. Great suffering—and likely death—awaits. Would you do it?

Before you answer, consider the Apostle Paul in Romans 9. He is confronting a heartbreaking reality: many of his fellow Jews will not accept Jesus. Their spiritual death and separation from God is certain.

“My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief,” he writes.
“For I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.” (Romans 9:2–3, NLT)

Paul isn’t presenting a hypothetical. He is expressing genuine anguish and a willingness to suffer eternal separation from Christ if it meant salvation for others. He is volunteering to throw himself on the tracks.

My heart aches when I consider the depth of Paul’s pain. He offers to embrace a life void of hope, peace, and love, if only his people might be saved. That’s a love that mirrors the sacrifice of Christ Himself.

Today, we face a similar choice—not necessarily to die, but to give of ourselves for the sake of others. Will we cling tightly to the promise that Christ is for me, or will we surrender that comfort to share Him with a world that desperately needs Him?

What will you choose?

Romans 7

There are chapters in the bible sometimes that make me feel like I don’t know how to read good.  Romans chapter 7 did that to me today.  It is one of those that requires multiple re-reads and some dissecting for me to follow the teaching that is inside of it.  Sure, we can all get the point once over, but it feels like in this chapter the point is made several times over in different ways.  Maybe that IS the point?!

Paul is writing here in Romans that the law is holy and good because it reveals to us just how sinful we really are.  Everyone struggles with sin every day, sometimes many times throughout the day, and those that say they don’t are fooling themselves.

Verse 20, “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”  It is remarkable how often I catch myself committing a sin and soon after thinking, “You know that wasn’t the right thing to say/do”.  And if it was a ‘small’ sin we kind of forget about it and move on with our day.  Maybe if it was a ‘bigger’ sin we take a few extra seconds to think about it and try to tell ourselves to not do that one again.  Paul is saying that sin is in all of us.  Sometimes we sin not because we want to or mean to, but because it lives in us and it is our own responsibility to understand that and be able to ask for God’s help to stay on the right path.  Also remember that we are never ‘annoying’ Him if we need to repeatedly keep asking for said help.  He is way more disappointed in us when we don’t ask than how many times we do.

This chapter also reminded me of a show I binged over this past weekend.  ‘The Bondsman’ starring Kevin Bacon.  It is at best 4/5 stars where Bacon is a bondsman that is given a second chance but must send back demons who are trying to escape hell.  It is vulgar and gory at times, BUT here is how it reminds me of sin and what I mentioned above.  Every time a demon(sin) was present, it showed its face in the mirror.  Just like sin, sometimes you can see it plain as day and a lot of times you can’t, but it is always lingering around.  It is on us to keep it at bay and we can easily do this by praying to God for a little help…..as often as we need to.

Verse 24-25, “What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

An essential part of the Christian life must be to change. We cannot be who we once were, we must turn from that which we once sought, and we must put on Christ in everything that we do. This is the message given to us in Romans 6, Paul is telling us that our death with Christ must create a change, we must become new. 

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). Of course, the answer is no. We are told that we must not continue, we are told that there is a need for change in our lives filled with sin. We have died with Christ in our baptism, and we are to be raised back into life with him as well. “…Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4). 

This is an act that we on our own have no ability to follow. We are of broken flesh, falling to our carnal desires and deserving the worst of punishment for it. Change is an impossibility. Or it was until Christ. “For if we have been united in death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5). It is powerful to be united with Christ, a once failing nature can now be sanctified through him, and only him. Romans 6:7 tells us that one who has died has been set free from sin. It no longer has dominion over us, only Christ can reign over us. 

Now that we are set free from sin, a new purpose is stamped onto our souls. “For the death he died he died to sin, once and for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:10-11). The old purposes we had for ourselves, including our desires to sin, have died with our old self and we are to instead live our new lives with the Lord. 

What does this mean for you and your life? How are you alive in Christ? How has he changed you to put away your old, sinful self and to put on a new self that lives for the Lord? I hope that all of us who have been baptized into Christ can see how much he has allowed us to change for him, and that we may change even more as we grow in our faiths and become more like the one who created us. 

Romans 5 is a powerful chapter where Paul unpacks the results of being justified by faith and draws a deep contrast between Adam and Christ. Here’s a summary and breakdown of the key themes:

Summary of Romans 5:

Verses 1–11:
Paul begins by explaining the benefits of justification by faith. Because believers are justified (declared righteous) through faith in Jesus, they now have:

• Peace with God (v.1)
• Access to grace (v.2)
• Hope of the glory of God (v.2)
• Joy even in suffering, knowing it produces endurance, character, and hope (vv.3–4)
• God’s love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (v.5)
• Certainty of salvation, because Christ died for us while we were still sinners (vv.6–8)
• Reconciliation with God through Jesus’ death and life (vv.9–11)

Verses 12–21:
Paul then moves into a comparison between Adam and Christ, often called the “two humanities” section:

• Through Adam’s sin, death entered the world and spread to all humanity (v.12)
• But through Christ’s obedience, grace and life are offered to all (v.15)
• Adam’s sin brought condemnation, but Christ’s righteousness brings justification (v.18)
• Where sin increased, grace increased even more (v.20)

Key Themes:

1. Justification by Faith:
   Believers are declared righteous not by works, but through faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Peace and Reconciliation with God:
   Because of justification, believers enjoy a new relationship with God marked by peace, access to grace, and reconciliation.
3. Hope in Suffering:
   Suffering is not meaningless. It refines character and anchors hope in God’s love and promises.
4. God’s Love and Grace:
   The cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love—Christ died for the ungodly at just the right time.
5. The Contrast Between Adam and Christ:
   • Adam represents humanity’s fall into sin and death.
   • Christ represents redemption and the gift of righteousness and life. Paul emphasizes that God’s grace far outweighs sin.

Written with the assistance of ChatGPT

Today’s Reading: Psalms 25

As we celebrated Easter yesterday, I can’t help but to think about what the disciples were thinking and experiencing.

On Thursday, they were having a Passover feast with their teacher and Rabbi and then they saw him arrested and heard that he was crucified. They thought this was the End of everything. 

John and Peter saw Christ brutally, beaten and crushed, and then executed through the crucifixion. They experienced the End of everything. Their hearts were broken.

On Sunday morning, both Peter and John go to the tomb and witness that he had risen. They were questioning themselves was that the End or was this the Beginning of something amazing.

A couple days ago, as we were preparing for Good Friday, my daughters were engaged in questions and wanted to know the reason behind Good Friday and the naming of it. They’re asking why is Good Friday called “Good”?  I informed her that it was good that Christ completed his mission of life to reconcile us back to God, and allow us to have the ability to speak to God directly. The sacrifice of Christ allowed us to reconnect with God through the Holy Spirit. 

The next question was “ if Good Friday was the end of Christ where was the beginning? Does God have a daddy? “ These profound questions from my 11-year-old and nine-year-old allow me to look at the complexity  of God and Christ. 

We see the beginning of our relationship with God through the death of Christ. We also see and witness the all of God and the creation of all things. So is it just the beginning or is this the end? Or is this the end or is it the beginning of our relationships? It seems that we are on a continuum where each day ends and the new day begins.

In the psalms 25, we are also at a continuum where we are visiting with David in the latter days of his life. David is questioning his future at the same time, he is asking forgiveness for his past. 

Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.

Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;
According to Your mercy remember me,
For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

Psalms 25: 4-7

We are constantly asking for insight into what to do next, but at the same time we are stuck in the past.

God through Christ has shown us that he is independent of time and that he loves us despite all of our difficult circumstances. God sees us in the completeness of who we are. Throughout our circumstances, we can grow in HIm more. It is when we have the struggles in our past, that allows us to lean into Christ through the Holy Spirit. So through our living, we are continuously engaged with him.

Is this the end or the beginning? The answer is yes.  We are constantly becoming renewed daily with our relationship with God the Father through Christ, God the Son, and the beauty of God the Spirit. May we enjoy this Easter season with renewed how that all of our past transgressions have been forgotten and live with more intention to be a reflection of God’s Love.

Psalm 21

Does anyone else ever read some of the Psalms written by David and easily slip back into that mindset of, “You’re right David, God is so good!”?  I know it isn’t just me. Psalm 21 I feel does just that.

Verse 4, “He asked you for life, and you gave it to him – length of days, for ever and ever.”  When I lay my head down tonight, I am going to pray as usual.  And as I usually do, I am going to start off by thanking Him for today and for all the others that come after.  But after reading this, I am going to go a little further.  I am going to thank the Lord for those “forever days”, for that eternal life with Him.

I already know I don’t thank God enough for everything He has given me.  I mean, I think I do a “good job”, but I know I can easily do better at prayer, carving out at the least a little more time from my day to put the brakes on life and talk to Him or talk WITH Him.  This makes me realize that next time I pray I WANT to thank Him for those eternal days when this life is all said and done.  As I reflect on it, I feel like it is easily assumed and/or taken for granted when in fact we know it is the greatest gift He gives us!

Then in the second part of this Psalm David addresses those who don’t seek God’s love or forgiveness.  Verse 8 says, “Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes.”  Mr. T. says it best, “I pity the fool”.

We have all had tremendous UPs in life and tremendous DOWNs.  I know I am not the only one, but I love knowing that God has been by my side and by the side of so many others.  So, I pity the fool that ever tells me they don’t need faith in God in their lives when they think they have it all.  Surely, we wouldn’t mind having the all the riches from our first day until our last, or just being able to glide through life without any trials thrown our way, but we also understand material things are no comparison to the love, forgiveness and eternal life that God offers us.  And if there was no turbulence in our lives then where do we learn that we can’t do this thing without His help along the way?!

So….Thank you David for the words you wrote in Psalm 21.  With your words and Easter in a few days, I will challenge myself and others to put down the phone, take one less unnecessary call/text/email and spend that time to be thankful not for just today but for so much more.  And pray for someone that might put on a really good show but is actually struggling with something that they don’t want anyone else to know.

Psalm 21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in your strength.  How great is his joy in the victories you give!