Digging in Deeper: Romans 13:11-12

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“Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I don’t like to put things off. My preference is generally to work ahead of whatever the schedule happens to be. That way I can sit and relax until it’s time to get started. Some people, on the other hand, work best under pressure. Admittedly, though, when I have a quick approaching due date, I can be remarkably productive. There’s something about an impending deadline that spurs us into action. No one wants to be caught unprepared when the moment of testing arrives. A sense of urgency can result in a whole lot of positive action. Here, near the end of Romans 13, Paul puts a bit of a sense of urgency on our faith. Let’s talk about why the return of Christ matters and what it means.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 13:8-10

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“Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery;’ ‘do not murder;’ ‘do not steal;’ ‘do not covet;’ and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever owed something to someone else? I currently owe one bank a car payment, and one mortgage company a house payment. I’ve owed for a car once before in my life, but that’s all the debt I’ve ever had. How about beyond monetary debts? Have you ever had any of those? If you want to switch gears to something like personal debts of honor or failings that need to be forgiven, I’ve owed quite a few more of those over the years. Paul was just talking at the end of the last section about the kinds of debts we can incur in this life. Being in debt to anyone for anything is not a good state of affairs. There’s only one kind of debt that should be ongoing in our lives if we can help it. Let’s talk about what that is.

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Morning Musing: Romans 13:6-7

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***Well, this piece should have gone live yesterday. In the busyness of the morning, although I managed to get it written, I forgot to actually make it live. So, today, you get a two-for-one deal. Enjoy!***

“And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. He was a regular Da Vinci of his age. One of the statements he immortalized is that nothing is certain except death and taxes. If you are operating from a basically secular worldview framework, he’s not wrong in his assessment, which isn’t all that encouraging because we’re generally not all that much a fan of either. Death we can’t do much about. But taxes seem like we should. We can at least rebel against them. Paul, though, rather irritatingly says we shouldn’t. In fact, we should pay all of our obligations. Let’s talk about it.

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Making the Broken Beautiful

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Sometimes the interruptions God allows to come to our lives are disruptive, they are inconvenient for us, but they aren’t necessarily destructive. Other times, though, life’s interruptions shake things apart so thoroughly that we’re not sure they will ever be able to be put back together again. Last week we talked through God’s interruptions to Abraham’s life. Those were hard, but the interruptions His great-grandson faced were hard on a whole other level. Let’s talk through Joseph’s story, how his life was interrupted, and what his response can teach us for handling our own hard interruptions.

Making the Broken Beautiful

Have you ever had things go from bad to worse? Sick kids are no fun. Several years ago, we had one sick kid. Then another. Then another. Then one of us went down. The dominoes just kept falling. And you would think that was bad enough, but you would be wrong. Just at the point that everybody was sick and all of the accompanying laundry was piling up to the ceiling…the washer broke down. We were at the store the next day. The nice salesman asked us what kind of a washer we were looking for, and we told him we were interested in whatever he had in stock that we could take home that day. I’m happy to report that we are all still alive and well, but that was a rough few days. In the grand scheme of things, though, that particular life interruption wasn’t so bad. It certainly could have been worse. Sometimes when life flies apart on us it feels like things shatter so thoroughly it’s hard to imagine there could ever be a way to put things back together again. 

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 13:5

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“Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, ‘I will never leave you or abandon you.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I have never been to Vegas. I’d like to go someday for the spectacle alone, and to see some fun shows, but that’s honestly about it. Gambling just isn’t something that appeals to me. I’ve only ever been in a casino once, and that was to eat. I’ve never bet on a sport either. I do play some fantasy sports (badly) with my family, but that’s about it. I recognize that I’m in reasonably small company in that especially given my age and sex. In spite of my own distaste for the practice, sport betting in particular has become a big business in the United States thanks to a Supreme Court ruling a couple of years ago that removed all the roadblocks to its nationwide legalization. There have been many voices along the way warning that this isn’t a good path for our country to be walking down. Some news broke yesterday offering up a perfect demonstration of why. Let’s talk about it.

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