What if you have found a medicine for an incurable disease? Would you keep it quiet or hide it somewhere? I am sure you would share it with everyone and tell everyone how powerful the invention is. Paul, who hated Christ and Christians had a personal encounter with Jesus. As an educated Jew, he already mastered the old testament by studying under Gamaliel (one of the greatest Jewish teachers of 1st Century AD). Before His encounter with Jesus, Paul was sure, Jesus is not God. But after his face to face encounter with Jesus, he went back and read the old testament again. Paul found the entire old testament laws, prophecies, and writing was pointing towards the coming of Jesus Christ, His death, resurrection, and the grand redemption plan. Paul could not contain this good news of God's grand redemption plan. He traveled many thousands of kilometers to share the good news with everyone. As we go through the book of Romans, You would find Paul's passion, energy, and hunger to share this good news with everyone.
Paul's longing to meet the Roman Church
Though Paul has not met the Roman church face to face yet and does not even have a set time to visit the church, Paul started praying for the Roman church every day. He already has an agenda (v 10-14) for his visit. Paul wants to encourage the church in faith, and get encouraged by the church's spiritual growth and fruits.
For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. v11 (NLT)
(v16)Presenting the Gospel in Paul's time was never easy to compare to today's standard. He was stoned and almost killed in places he preached. Yet Paul returned to the same place where he was mistreated before without any regret.
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believe. v16 (NLT)
When Will God abandon us?
The good news of God's redemption plan is available for everyone who believes in God independent of their education and civilization. But the part of humanity is not willing to believe in God, though they do not have enough justification to do so. God’s qualities, power, and divine nature are revealed through God's creation such as earth and sky. The power of nature (earthquakes, tsunami, flood, etc.) consistently prove there is a powerful God behind the creation of nature. If we tamper with the evidence provided by God and try to justify the creation through our knowledge, we are indirectly trying to suppress or hide the facts creator God has provided. As a result, God will abandon us.
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. v20 (NLT)
What Happens when God abandons us?
If we consistently reject the evidence provided by God, we will be abandoned by God. The words “abandoning them” repeats three times in v24, v26, and v28 in chapter 1. Each one of these acts of abandoning has a disastrous impact on human life. It takes away the sensitiveness of the heart, darkens our thoughts, and convinces us to do unnatural things. The human unbelief pushes the heart to the point of no return.
So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. v24
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. v26
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. v28 NLT
The easiest and only way to be part of God's great redemption plan is by believing in what Jesus has done for us on the cross. He took all our sins and made us justified before God.
Dear friend, When we believe in Jesus he forgives our past and justifies us. There is nothing wrong with believing in science after understanding empirical formulas, hypotheses, and theories. Believing in God demands much less belief and more strong evidence than believing in science. Are you ready to believe in Jesus today? Let's pray together.
Dear Jesus, Thank you for the good news. Thank you for sacrificing your own life to redeem us from my past. I am so grateful to you for forgiving my past. Please come into my heart and change my life. I want to put my trust in you and follow you with all my heart. Remove all my unbelief. In Jesus's name, I pray. Amen.
