Tag: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Romans 3:5-6

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“But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? I am using a human argument: Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The picture of God as judge is not a popular one nowadays. This wasn’t always the case. The pre-modern world didn’t have much of a problem with it at all. Our being repulsed by the idea is a consequence of modern and postmodern philosophical movements over the last roughly 200 years changing the way we think about ourselves and right and wrong and God more generally. As we work through Paul’s concluding argument in his grand presentation of the hard news of the Gospel in order to set up the good news (which we’ll finally get to next week), he starts things off by highlighting some potential reactions to the argument he has been making. We dealt with the first of these last week. Let’s take on the second today: Is God right to issue judgment against sin?

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Morning Musing: Romans 3:1-4

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“So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the very words of God. What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written: ‘That you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things that new and still-learning followers of Jesus sometimes struggle with is whether they’ve done something to mess up God’s plans. It’s an easy thought to understand. If God planned for me to go left, but I go right instead, have I somehow set Him back or even derailed things He had previously set in motion? As Paul keeps up his condemnation of sin here in Romans, he starts this next section by dealing with some hypothetical questions that may be coming up in the minds of his audience. Let’s wrestle with him through the first one here.

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Morning Musing: Romans 2:5-8

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“Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Salvation is based on grace. If you’ve been around the church for long, you’ve probably heard that. It’s sort of one of the church’s central messages. In fact, if you’ve been around the church for very long and that’s news to you, you should probably find a new church because the one you’re at now isn’t very good. But as much as salvation is based on grace, judgment is not. Let’s talk about the basis of judgment and what it means for us.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 11:13-14

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“These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes life is hard. It’s hard for all sorts of different reasons. Sometimes it’s hard because we’ve made it hard. Sometimes it’s hard because somebody else has made it hard for us. The end result generally winds up being the same regardless of the starting place. We’re left looking around and wondering how we got here. More than that, we’re left looking around wondering how long we have to stay here or even what we can do to get out of here. But the truth is that in so many of the hardest hards in our lives, leaving isn’t a viable option. What if, though, there was a way to transform the hard into something else entirely? A song I’ve been listening to recently offers a bit of reality both of the now in our hard, but also a window into what could be. Let me share it with you today.

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Morning Musing: Romans 2:1

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“Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a culture that hates judgment. Well, at least we profess and make a mean case of such a thing. But the truth is that we love judgment. We simply don’t like people judging us or people we count as our people. We’re very content to cast judgment on those who don’t meet with our standards whatever they are. This state of affairs makes the oft-lobbed criticism that Christians are too judgmental of a lot most ironic. Yet accusing followers of Jesus of being judgmental isn’t something the culture has the corner market on. Paul does it right here. Let’s talk about why and what he means.

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