Devotional Guide -- March 25

Monday, March 25, 2019
The Holy Bible: 

God Speaks to Man

“Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law shall live by it…. But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is the word of flesh which we preach)…. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.” Romans’10:5-10

Today’s Scripture is from the New Testament; Saturday’s from the Old. Paul, in his great Roman systematic theology, makes his point by quoting from Moses in the fifth book of the Bible – Deuteronomy, and you’ll notice that Paul changes little of what we read yesterday from Deuteronomy.

So what is Paul saying? He’s saying that if we think we are going to find salvation by obeying the law, we are mistaken. We simply cannot do that because of Adam’s sin (but that is another lesson). Only one person has ever obeyed the complete law, and his name is Jesus! No, our salvation is in our hearts and on our lips. We believe in our hearts that Jesus is the Christ and confess with our mouths that he is our Lord, and we will be saved! (That’s a Patience paraphrase of Romans 10.) After that, we don’t keep the law because we must in order to be saved; we keep the law as best we can out of love for the Lord who did everything necessary to eternally save us. What a huge difference understanding this can make in our lives. Understanding this is amazingly freeing!

Prayer: Father, thank you for your free gift of salvation – original and on-going – for its being as near as our hearts and words. We do confess Christ as Lord and Savior. Amen.

“I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25
Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2009
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Director