Sunday, March 1, 2015

Devotion 3.2.15

From Mike Ratke, member of Hope Lutheran Lubbock. 

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

"When you look at it on its surface it seems really simple.  It is a clarification to me of the Great Command given by Jesus.  But it is much more.  It tells us that there is no reason to hide our faith and to share it will all we come in contact with.  Paul uses the line 'first the Jew, then the Gentile' because in his time, in a Jewish culture, they were who you would come in contact with first, and were God's chosen people.  God gave us the gift of Jesus, but bear in mind at the time the Jews were who he promised Jesus to all the way back to Adam and Eve.  

"So first the Jew, then the Gentile.  Meaning, this is my special gift to my chosen people, but he is my gift to all mankind.  It is our job to tell all about him and do so in a very deliberate and proud manner...proud because we are 'boasting in the Lord.'  Do not be shy about this go forth....To me this is one of the greatest challenges to the Lutheran mindset.  To actually get up off of our collective butts and do something that Jesus commanded us and have faith in the fact that the Holy Spirit will give us the skills to do it.  I read much more into the simple verse than most would, but my mind works that way, never is there a simple answer to a simple question.  All simple questions are designed to make us simply think they are simple, when in fact they are there to probe much deeper and look for a much more complex answer."

Pray that all Christians move from their collective seats in the stands to follow Christ's command to take the gospel to all nations by getting on the field of play and engaging.

Hope Men's Ministry

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