Epistles: Romans 1-2

Link to Text (Here)

Highlights:

• Romans 1:25 (New International Version, ©2010)

       ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served  
    created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

• Romans 1:28 (New International Version, ©2010)

    ²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge 

    of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what 

    ought not to be done.

• Romans 2:6-8 (New International Version, ©2010)

  ⁶ God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”^[a] 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. ⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

My Take:Honestly, I could highlight the entire book of Romans. It is so rich. I don't consider myself a bible scholar at all. However, if I know one part of the Bible, it's the book of Romans. It is quite simply some of the most relatable words that the Bible has in my opinion. Paul spends the first paret of this letter telling us how much he longed to be with the people in Rome. He spends the better part of the first chapter encouraging them for how they have persevered in their faith through some pretty rough times.

However, Paul is led by God in this book to quite simply state his displeasure with the current state of Mankind. I think that what Paul spoke through God is still and purposefully still relatable, even today. Romans 1:28 mentioned above slips into my mind and is convicting. It's hard to get on this blog, which I use as my quite time for journaling thoughts about what I've read. I can much easily tend to my farm on Facebook, or click some Twitter links. I can surf the web and find some pretty cool deals. I can also do work that will keep me from getting behind at my job. However, I am purposefully choosing to spend the hour it takes me to get over my ADD tendencies and pound out a meaningful expository take on what I read and how it relates. I say all that (as you can see the ADD has kicked in) to say that it takes some amount of desire and focus to "retain the knowledge of God." Too often I just want to get home and do mindless things, things that either do no benefit for the kingdom or no benefit for my family. I want to vedge(sp?), and as this verse says "God will give them over to a depraved mind." Have you ever heard of those people that you knew in high school in youth group or that you had class with that were avid Christians. They did all the right stuff, were in all the right groups, they just looked the part...then you saw them years or even months later and they were completely different. I believe that it is because God wasn't going to force them to come back to him. WHile he would want and ultimately knows whether or not they will come back to him, he doesn't force upon them to come back, he knows it needs to be their choice.

The last verse (of many I highlighted) comes from Romans 2: 6-8. This verse when I read it stuck out to me because if you wanted to ever have a chance to explain to somebody in simple english what the Christian faith is about, you can quite point them to this verse.