A Year of Grace

Matthew 12:38 – One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”

³⁹ But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

⁴¹ “The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent. ⁴² The queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.” (NLT)

What kind of Jesus would you like to have? That’s the question that comes to my mind when I read this passage.  By the time that the teachers and Pharisees came to Jesus asking for a sign, he had already performed many healings and miracles, but they came asking for yet another.  Jesus did heal and perform miracles when he had the opportunity, but his purpose for coming to earth was to live out the greatest of miracles. That greatest of miracles was to die for our sins, and then raise up from the grave for the purpose of securing our place with God for all eternity.

Yet, I still think many people would like Jesus to perform even more signs and wonders.  Jesus asked the religious leaders then, and he asks us today, what more could he do to make us change anything about ourselves?  Many people did not believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be when he walked the earth.  We know that many still do not believe, but again, I am left wondering how many truly believe even now?  If one were to truly believe Jesus at his word, then one would seek to change what they can change about themselves.  This is what Jesus is speaking about when he says: “Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.”

Repenting is not merely saying that you are sorry, repenting is turning around – it is changing things about ourselves. I pray that each of us will seek to change what we can change.  We must love all people.  We must let go of prejudices.  We must forgive.  We must care for the needy, and we must seek peace in all things.  The best way that we can worship God is to change our very lives.  In the Old Testament, the Jews would offer up a sacrifice for their worship.  In the New Testament the Apostle Paul says: “I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” (Romans 12:1)

Today, let us truly worship God! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Corinthians 4:14 – I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. ¹⁶ So I urge you to imitate me.

¹⁷ That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.

¹⁸ Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. ¹⁹ But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. ²⁰ For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. (NLT)

If there is one thing we can say about the Apostle Paul, he was bold!  Paul, however, makes no apologies for this, and in 2 Timothy he explains that it is the very spirit of God that makes one bold instead of timid (2 Timothy 1:7).  Paul certainly writes boldly in this passage, and he has good reason!

Some of the Corinthian Christians were acting as if they were spiritually better than other Christians.  To properly understand this passage, let’s consider the verses that come before, and then look at the last verse in this passage. You might note Paul’s use of sarcasm in this passage: 1 Corinthians 4:10 – “Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. ¹¹ Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. ¹² We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. ¹³ We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.” 

Paul – and the other Apostles – were working hard for the sake of the Gospel.  They were doing without basic necessities, and enduring hardships.  Some of the Corinthians, on the other hand, were boasting about being spiritually mature, yet were doing absolutely nothing to build the kingdom of God. So, Paul does speak boldly.  His purpose is not to shame, but to warn them of their mistakes.  Now, contrasting the differences between how the Apostles and the Corinthians were living, Paul states in verse 20: “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.”  I believe that I could preach on this one verse for a month of Sunday’s!

Many years ago I had a district superintendent who would say, “I’m not a good judge of pastors, but I am a good fruit inspector!” I think 1 Corinthians 4:20 has a similar thought: “the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.” 

The kingdom of God is not about talk, it’s about living. Whether that life is now, or the hereafter, it’s about living!  Today, let’s truly live.  Today, let’s not be just about talking about our faith – or just about talking about Jesus – today let’s live powerfully with God’s help. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Genesis 28:10 – Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. ¹¹ At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. ¹² As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.

¹³ At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. ¹⁵ What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” ¹⁷ But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

¹⁸ The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. ¹⁹ He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”). (NLT)

Today we read about Jacob’s dream at Bethel.  The study of Jacob is a very interesting study.  He is a complicated character, and comes from a family of complicated characters!  In this passage, Jacob is basically ‘getting out of town’ because his brother Esau is thinking of killing him!  Of course, we cannot overlook why Esau felt this way – Jacob had tricked their father Isaac into bestowing upon Jacob a blessing that was legally due his brother Esau.  Yet, even given his life of trickery and deceit, God was still preparing Jacob for a great future.   

If one were to read various verses about Jacob, one could surely wonder why God would want to bless someone so deceitful.  That’s a great question!  Another great question would be to ask ourselves why God would want to bless someone as sinful as we?  The answer we would come up with is this: God is in the business of blessing people!  We don’t deserve God’s blessings, yet they are freely given.  God’s blessings are not earned, and in this passage Jacob is receiving the same promise that was given to Abraham and Isaac before him.  Neither of them deserved God’s blessing.  If it was earned it would not be a blessing, it would be a wage.  Sin deserves a wage, and that wage is death, but God freely blesses instead (Romans 6:23).   

Just as God prepared Jacob for a great future regardless of his past, God this day is preparing us for something great regardless of any sin in our past!  God is preparing us for kingdom life.  We can begin our kingdom life here and now, and God wants us to experience it here and now.  Let us learn from Jacob, our past can be put behind us, at least as far as God is concerned.

So today, let us seek the blessings that God has in store for us.  Let us also praise God for setting aside our past.  That’s Good Stuff!

Posted by Ramón Torres

Psalm 139:1 – O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
¹² but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you. (NLT)

If there is one thing this psalm makes clear – there is no escaping God!  God knows everything about us (verse 1).  God knows our thoughts (verse 2).  God knows where we are (verse 3).  God knows what we are going to say (verse 4), and in verse five we are told that God is everywhere all at the same time!

Now, this could be good news, or bad news.  I prefer to see it as good news, but sadly some use passages such as this to scare people (particularly children).  The psalmist wasn’t trying to scare anybody, indeed, the psalmist was trying to reassure us that God’s blessings are with us every second: You place your hand of blessing on my head (verse 5).

Whenever we read Scripture, we should always dig a little deeper.  With that in mind, let’s consider how this psalm ends: “²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. ²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”  This psalm begins by stating that God has examined our hearts, and it ends with the Psalmist asking God to search him again.  The tense of the verb search in verse twenty-three indicates something deeper than merely taking a look at us.  The psalmist is asking God to dig deeper!  God wants us to dig deeply into God’s Word, but we should, in turn, ask God to dig deeply into our lives.  We should not just acknowledge that God is aware of us, but we should ask God to make us aware of those things that offend God!

Today, let us ask God to dig deeply into our lives, pointing out to us what needs to be corrected.  Then, let us be willing to change! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Ephesians 4:17 – With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. ¹⁸ Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. ¹⁹ They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

²⁰ But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. ²¹ Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, ²² throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. ²³ Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. ²⁴ Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

²⁵ So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. ²⁶ And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

²⁸ If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. ²⁹ Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

³⁰ And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. ³² Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. 

In today’s reading, the Apostle Paul is giving us instruction on what it looks like to live a holy life.  When it comes to living a holy life, many Christians throughout the centuries have focused on sexual sins.  A call to live a holy life does, indeed, include our sexuality.  However, God’s call to live a holy life does not begin and end with sexuality.  In this passage, Paul lifts up other behaviors that should be just as high on any ‘list’ as sexual sins.

Being truthful – at all times – should be on our list.  Anger, as well, should be near the top. I am burdened and often broken hearted by the anger I see displayed by Christians.  This anger is even displayed in many Christian homes.  Let us note that Paul says not to let the sun go down on our anger, meaning that we will become angry, but we should resolve our anger quickly.  This passage mentions rage and harsh words, which so often follow anger.  Harsh words should never come from a Christian’s mouth.  Rage, no matter what the wrong, should never come from a Christian. 

Instead of these negative behaviors, Paul gives us some positive behaviors to model: kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness.  In chapter five of this letter, Paul discusses our relationships within our homes.  These positive behaviors in this passage must begin in our homes.  It has been my observation, sadly, that some Christians act differently towards their family members in private than they do at church!  Clearly, such behavior is no less sinful than any sexual sin we could name. 

Today’s reading ends with the beginning of chapter five: “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. ² Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.”  Today, let us strive to live life imitating what we know of God.  Let us live today a life filled with love! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Thessalonians 4:1 – Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. ² For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.  

³ God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. ⁴ Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—⁵ not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. ⁶ Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. ⁷ God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. ⁸ Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. (NLT)

Morality, what is it?  What is morally right and morally wrong?  I dug into this subject recently, here are some interesting answers:  Morality is the way we think everyone else should be; Morality is a way that unhappy old folks enjoy making young folks unhappy too; The opposite of “fun”; Morality is a set of rules given by a higher authority, and if you conform to them, you will be rewarded. If you don’t conform to them, you will be punished.  

Interesting answers.  However, even if we were to define what morality is, who decides?  French philosopher Marquis de Sade put it this way:  “It is purely local and geographical; that which is vicious in Paris turns up, as we know, a virtue in Peking, and it is quite the same thing here; that which is just in Isfahan they call unjust in Copenhagen.  Amidst these manifold variations do we discover anything constant?”   

Well, for the Christian there is, indeed, a constant.  There is a moral compass. While it may be true that what is morally acceptable in one part of the world may be illegal in another, the reading today goes beyond the law of the land.  Paul reminds us that we are called – by God – to live a holy life.  He then tells us that refusing to live such a life is not merely disobeying human teachings, but rejecting God.  God has given us standards by which to live.  These standards are not given because God does not want us to have fun, quite the opposite!  The standards and guidelines given to us by God are for our own protection – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.  

Do we always live up to these standards? No, but we must strive for them.  We need to note the last thing Paul says in the passage above.  Speaking of obeying God’s guidelines, Paul then says: who gives his Holy Spirit to you.  The Holy Spirit is given to us because on our own we cannot live by God’s guidelines.  On our own, there is no moral constant.  God’s Holy Spirit not only gives us strength to live a holy life, but directs our steps towards what is holy, and away from what is not.

Today, strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit, let us live a holy life!   

Posted by Ramón Torres

John 12:44 – Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. ⁴⁵ For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. ⁴⁷ I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. ⁴⁸ But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. ⁴⁹ I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰ And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” (NLT)

The subject of God’s judgment will always generate debate amongst Christians. However, when I read this passage, I am not struck with fear by the talk of judgment, for I know who holds me for eternity.  I am struck by a particular verse in this passage that doesn’t speak of a coming judgment but speaks to my life right now – this very day!  

Let’s look at verse 46: “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.”  As I see it, so many Christians are so busy debating about what God might do to some nonbeliever in a future judgment that they have forgotten that Christianity is about something more than the hereafter.  Christianity is also about the here and now!  A 2019 survey by the Pew Foundation reports that 65% of Americans identify as Christian.  If these statistics are true, are we to believe that 65% of Americans are no longer in the dark spiritually, and walking in the light?  I find it difficult to believe that this can be the case.  When I consider the brokenness in many Christian homes, the abuse, the addiction, I find it difficult to believe that two thirds of the people in our country are walking in Jesus’ light.   

How do we walk in this light?  Jesus tells us in verse 46 – by trusting in Jesus.  Too many who claim to be Christian see this trust as a trust in some future event (salvation for their souls) only.  How about trusting Jesus enough to live like Jesus right now?  How about trusting Jesus enough to humbly serve the needs of others right now?  How about trusting in Jesus enough to love all people right now?  I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture.

Today, let us trust in Jesus so that we will walk in the Light this day.  Let us trust in Jesus so that the darkness of this world will not control and direct our words and actions. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Psalm 139:13 – You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me! (NLT)

Walk into any bookstore today and you will see an abundance of books and magazines that offer to teach us how to have a healthy self image.  A healthy self image, we are told, will enable us to be more successful in life.  In particular, parents of young children are taught how vital it is for their children to develop a healthy self image.  Experts in child psychology tell us that the three greatest needs for a child are: to be loved; to matter; to be heard.  A healthy self image is important, and God wants each of us to have a healthy self image, as well.  Indeed, everyone who claims to be a Christian should have a healthy self image!  If you or someone you know struggles with their self image, this is a great passage of Scripture.

Our first need is to be loved.  Consider verse seventeen: How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!  If you have ever fallen in love, then you know that in the newness of that relationship your thoughts are always being drawn to the one you love.  God’s love for us is new each day!  God thinks of us continually, as only one who is deeply in love with another can experience. 

Our second need is to matter to someone.  We matter so much to God that God kept watch over us as we were developing inside our mother’s womb.  No life is an accident in God’s eyes!  From the moment of conception, God is keeping watch over one that God loves.

Our third need is the need to be heard.  God hears us because God is with us (verse 18).  We may find ourselves lonely, but we are never alone. We can start each day knowing that God is there with us, for God is always with us!

Today, let’s lift our chins a little higher, knowing that we matter to God, that God loves us, and God is ready to listen to our every thought and word! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Romans 8:1 – So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. (NLT) 

If we were reading through Paul’s letter to the church in Rome from the beginning, we would have seen that to this point Paul has mentioned the Spirit only briefly.  In this chapter alone Paul will mention the Spirit at least twenty times.  Throughout this letter, and in this chapter, Paul uses the words Spirit, Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, and Spirit of Christ, interchangeably.  While we never find the term Holy Trinity in the Bible, it is clear to see that Paul was well versed in the doctrine of the Hoy Trinity.

While Paul  doesn’t use the word slave here, basically he’s giving the same idea – each of us will be controlled by something.  In verse five uses the phrases ‘dominated by’, and ‘controlled by’.  Each of these phrases speaks to the idea of the human spirit being enslaved by something.  We are fallen, and something will dominate and control each of us.  When sin dominates us, our minds are filled with thoughts of sinful things.  In fact, when sin dominates us, we are hostile towards God (verse 7).

However, when the Holy Spirit dominates us, we think of godly things.  Paul is not saying we will never sin.  Indeed, he tells us that we will sin (Romans 3:23), but we will not be controlled by sin if we seek a Spirit filled life.  In verse six we are told that a Spirit filled life leads to peace in our lives.  The Greek word we translate as peace is εἰρήνη.  This word literally means tranquility.  Life is often stressful; we could all use some tranquility!

Today, let us seek God’s Spirit and experience some peace and tranquility in our lives. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Romans 7:15 – I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. (NLT)

In verse 15 Paul speaks of a situation in life where we often find ourselves – behaving in a way in which we know is wrong, an action that we dislike, yet we feel powerless to change.  Maybe this is anger towards someone, a grudge we can’t let go off, or a habit that holds us captive.  Whatever the situation, we all have found ourselves there.  Looking at verse 15 alone, one would think we are powerless to change.  That’s the point!  On our own, we are powerless to change.

As always, we should read more than one verse to gain a proper biblical understanding.  Paul states in verse 17 that what causes us to become stuck in such a behavior is sin living within us.  Here is a biblical truth we cannot ignore – sin wants to live within us.  Paul tells us in verse 18 that we will always lose to sin – on our own.  Verse 24 asks a question that each Christian must ask: “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?”

The answer is in verse 25: “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Now the Scripture wasn’t written in chapters and verses as we have it today.  Many of the books and letters were one continuous work.  Unfortunately, when the Scriptures were divided into chapter and verses, it caused us to miss something powerful in a passage because the key to understand the passage is in the next chapter.  Here in Romans, we quit reading at the end of chapter seven, but the first verse of chapter eight holds a key to understanding this passage.  Consider the end of chapter seven and the beginning of chapter eight together:  “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus”.

Because of our faith in what Jesus has done for us, there is no longer any condemnation for those who belong to Jesus!  This is no excuse for our not trying to better ourselves, but when we fail, and when our hearts truly desire what is right, our sin is no longer held against us.  This, my friends, is Good News!

Today, let us do our best to live the life that God desires, but let us also know that there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus!  Amen! 

Posted by Ramón Torres