Daily Bible Devotionals

“The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.  For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me, and through it killed me.  So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.”  Romans 7:10b-12 (HCSB)

Is there a problem with the Law and the Commandments? Absolutely not! They have done (and continue to do) what God intended them to do: they set the standard by which mankind will be judged. There is nothing faulty about the Law.

What is “faulty” is some men’s concept of the “Law,” what it will do for us, and what it means to walk in truth and please God. Far too often, what happens is that people can end up worshiping the Law rather than the Law Giver! Yes, it is possible to be so religious that your “piety” towards God takes the place of God in your life.

Children live by “rules,” and adults live by “principles.” For instance, I give my kids rules, like “Don’t play in the street.” That is because children lack the ability to conceptualize the abstract idea of “getting hit by a car.” They only think linearly, so we give them rules with consequences. Then, they think, “If I disobey the rule, I will get punished.” Adults do not need the rule “do not play in the street” because they understand the overriding principle: playing in the street sharply raises the probability of getting struck by a car.

Those who try to justify themselves by their personal works of the Law (i.e., “the RULE”) always live with the anxiety of being punished by God for not working hard enough or diligently enough. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 Different than having “childlike faith,” people trying to constantly appease God never move beyond “immature faith”; that cause & effect thinking.

The Law has become a “law of death” for the works-based people because deep down, they KNOW they could never do enough good works to justify themselves. Apart from Jesus’ atoning work, they will never fulfill the Law’s requirements. Rather, the more they work and check their tally, the more they recognize how much they are falling behind. This leads to comparing one’s piety against other men and women instead of weighing oneself against God’s revealed standard, the Bible.

Adults live by principles. I don’t play in the street because I know that I might get hit by a car. That said, if someone needs help on the other side of the road, I have the freedom to cross it. Neither my privileges nor prohibitions are motivated by fear of being punished for breaking the rules. I firmly grasp road safety principles and weigh them against the necessity of being a good citizen.

Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. He fulfilled the Law on my behalf, so my motivation for living by His Word has changed. No longer under the rules, I am free to live by the principles of the Law: Love God and love people. Therefore, it has become a Law of life to us who believe, but only because of Jesus’ works, not ours.

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness.  So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of?  For the end of those things is death.  But now, since you have become liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification – and the end is eternal life!  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ (Messiah) Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:20-23 (HCSB

Several years ago, Bob Dylan sang, “You gotta serve somebody.” I believe he was right. People who claim they don’t believe in a god are lying to themselves. Idols come in many forms, and just because people don’t attach themselves to an organized religion doesn’t mean they don’t worship and serve “something.”

That concept of serving “someone” is the topic of today’s chapter. Paul speaks about being “a slave to sin.” Initially, we didn’t choose to live in sin. We were born into it. The children of slaves are not born as free men. They are born into bondage as a twisted “inheritance” and considered part of their parents’ master’s property. In this same way, we have been born into the bondage of sin.

Consider the apostle John’s gospel:

“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands CONDEMNED ALREADY because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18(emphasis mine)

There is no shame in being born into sin because ALL are born into “condemnation.” Since that is true, that means we ALL need the salvation that comes exclusively through faith in Jesus. “SIN” is a club we are all born into.

Here is something shameful: A child who is born into slavery but is given the option to be free and rejects it. What if another Master, One to whom their “former master” must be subservient, offers to purchase them for Himself, yet that slave chooses not to receive freedom? Furthermore, what if that Master says He would consider that slave as if it were His child rather than a slave?

It would be foolish and shameful to reject such an offer! Yet, that same offer is made to us through faith in Jesus. Sadly, most people refuse that offer. Jesus has bought us with His blood, and by the evidence of His resurrection and the powerful testimony of His Spirit, we have more than enough reason to believe!

Because people refuse to recognize they are “slaves to sin,” they consider the option of being a “slave to Jesus” appalling. Sadly, the consequences of their self-denial are eternal. Since you’ve “gotta’ serve somebody,” which master have you chosen? There is still time to choose Jesus. “Today is the day of salvation!” 2 Corinthians 6:2b

“But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ (Messiah) died for us!  Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.  For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, being reconciled, will we be saved by His Life!  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have now received this reconciliation through Him.” Romans 5:8-11 (HCSB)

It has been said that people come to faith in Jesus for three reasons: Past, Present, and Future. We feel guilt over our past, overwhelmed by our present situation, and uncertain of what lies ahead.

In the passage above, Paul addresses each reason and weaves them together. He demonstrates how they relate to each other and how they are inseparable.

Past: We WERE still sinners and enemies when Messiah died for us. He WAS aware of our past yet loved us anyway. His love results not from the abundance of our goodness but from the greatness of His affection and holiness.

Present: We have NOW been declared righteous by His blood. We are NOW reconciled to God through the death of His Son. We NOW rejoice in God because of Messiah’s life (resurrection). With the weight of our past and future being removed, we are free to enjoy life TODAY.

Future: Since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we WILL BE saved, through Jesus, from wrath. If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, being reconciled, WILL WE BE saved by His Life!

I was receptive to the gospel because my Past had really messed up my Present to the extent that I believed I had no hope for the Future. No matter our particular areas of spiritual struggle, if we are genuinely seeking salvation and the truth, we must all enter into a saving relationship with God through the “door” of Messiah Jesus. He loves you despite your past, will give you hope for today, and secures the future of all true believers with the promise of eternity in Heaven.

“Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares righteous the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.” Romans 4:4-5

Let’s say you’re in a bit of debt, and you need to make some extra money to pay it off. You decide to get an additional job digging ditches. (Someone’s got to do it!) So, you’re in the hot sun every weekend, just working away. On payday, the foreman strolls by, hands you an envelope, and says, “Here’s a gift.”

“WAIT A MINUTE!” you reply. “I’ve been working hard for two weeks. That money is not a gift; I’ve earned it!”

If you have a debt that you can pay off, you should work hard and pay it. When your work is finished, you have earned your wages. When your debt is paid, you paid it.

Have you ever felt cheated by God? Do you ever think He misappropriated your “good works” and renamed your righteousness as His “gift” of salvation? Perhaps, you should demand an accounting of all your good works and put God’s character on trial. That’s what Job did. But how did that work out for Job?

The Bible gives us our accounting: “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Romans 3:10

Now, suppose you’re in so much debt you couldn’t possibly pay it off. Your grandkids will still be paying your debt long after you’re dead! One day, the person you owe tells you he wants to cancel your debt, and all you have to do is have faith he’ll do it. You tell him you believe him and want to accept his offer. So he cancels your debt.

Later, you overhear that person needs some ditches dug around his property. In response to what he’s done for you, canceling a debt you could not afford, you commit your life to work for him. You do not work out of any obligation. There is no debt anymore. Instead, you work voluntarily, out of thankfulness.

People who don’t realize the enormity of their sin debt believe they can pay that debt. They think much of themselves and less of God. True believers in Jesus see their debt to God as un-payable. Their “good works” (as believers) are out of gratitude for His having canceled their debt.

“For the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life in Messiah Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Romans 3. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?  But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.”  Romans 2:4 (HCSB)

On most days, my children are adorable and simply a joy to be around. Other days, not so much.

When I was a teenager, and I expressed frustration, adults would say, “You’re just going through a phase.” I would be so mad at that response! I was like, “You don’t know me!” I hate to say it, but the whole “phase” thing is entirely accurate. Kids have behavioral “seasons,” and observant parents know when we enter and exit our seasons.

A secret to being a good parent (which I do not claim to have mastered) is becoming a student of your children. You study their likes & dislikes, and forecast their “seasons.”

One of the best ways to gauge a relationship is how well people select gifts for each other. Gifting shows how well someone knows you. The value of a gift is not about the expense; rather, how appropriate the gift is because a gift’s appropriateness is based on a person’s knowledge of you.

God watches His children closely. Sometimes He disciplines harshly, and other times He gives us mercy. It’s all based on what His infinite wisdom determines we need for healthy development. Children need to know parents have their best interests in mind. The Lord gives us much more grace than harsh discipline.

A legitimate concern for any parent is that their children will perceive “grace” as a reward for bad behavior. This is precisely what Paul is warning the believers in Rome about. God has ONE thing in mind regarding all people: that they would come unto repentance. His first approach is Grace. To all who would accept it, He freely gives salvation.

But to those who refuse or abuse His grace, He disciplines harshly. Trauma brings desperation. Desperation demands urgent solutions, and Jesus is the ultimate and only solution for humanity’s sin debt to God. The overriding intent for God-directed desperation is that we recognize and worship Him.

Although God knows precisely who will accept or reject Him, He loves us and never stops trying to reach us through both mercy and pain. Nothing is beyond His ability to gain our attention. Skip the unnecessary desperation and surrender your life to Jesus.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek (Gentile). For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17 (HCSB)

A friend told me of the graduate-level negotiating class he took in college. On the first day, the professor handed everyone in the class a list containing contact information for 200 businesses and organizations. The assignment was to call these companies and renegotiate everything from their cable bills to personal credit card percentage rates. The professor said, “The assignment is over when you get turned down 20 times.” My friend was amazed to find the semester ended without filling the “20 rejections” quota.

The point of the professor’s assignment was to condition these young negotiators not to be afraid to ask. My friend renegotiated all sorts of things he felt were “set in stone” by powerful institutions. He overcame his fear of asking, and he is a wealthy man today.

When we share the gospel, we are asking people to reconsider their opinions of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Church. In essence, we are helping them “renegotiate” their spiritual lives.

If anyone knew the consequences of evangelism, it was Paul. Before he believed in Jesus, Paul persecuted Christians. After he came to faith, Paul himself was persecuted, shipwrecked, stoned, and left for dead. But Paul had an intimate knowledge of God’s faithfulness. Paul knew God’s heart towards sinners who repented.

Paul also loved people for who they could be in Messiah, rather than how they treated him at the moment. He loved them enough to expose the sins that kept them from a right relationship with God. To Paul, the persecution he suffered was worth it if he could convince men that salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.

Paul was a very successful evangelist. This was not because of his intellect or personal power of persuasion. Paul’s effectiveness came solely from the Holy Spirit…as does yours.

As Jesus faithfully suffered for our sin and was resurrected, Paul also believed God by faith. When Paul believed by faith, the Lord faithfully gave him the Spirit, as He promises all believers. Additionally, as Paul faithfully believed the testimony of the Holy Spirit as it revealed God’s Word to Paul, people’s lives were drastically and eternally changed. And so it went, “from faith to faith.” In short, Paul was not ashamed to negotiate by faith, and neither should we.

Paul’s message to us: Do not be ashamed! Keep faithfully listening to the Spirit, and He will faithfully guide and empower you to accomplish God’s purposes for His glory.

“As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself to his hand.  When the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘This man is probably a murderer, and though he has escaped the sea, Justice does not allow him to live.’  However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.  They expected that he would swell up or suddenly drop dead.  But after they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.”  Acts 28:3-6 (HCSB)

There is an old saying: If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.  Perhaps, the theme of today’s chapter should be: If you don’t stand on the foundation of God’s Word, you’ll fall for anything.  (Although, I prefer the title: “Snakes on a Paul”)

Apart from God’s Word, people filter life experiences through their traditions and feelings.  Neither one of those measures is reliable because their origins are from man.  Consider the people of Malta’s response to Paul’s snakebite.  1) He is a murderer, and fate has caught up with him; 2) He is a god!  Both their omens and feeling-based observations led them to the wrong conclusions.  Apart from the Bible, we have no reliable lens to view life experiences correctly.  (2 Timothy 3:16)

We can learn three things from Paul’s experience: The viper bite deliverance confirms justice, refutes superstition, and fulfills Jesus’ promise that believers can expect miracles.    

“Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing will ever harm you.  However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”  Luke 10:19-20 (HCSB)

Back in Acts 14, the people of Lystra had proclaimed that Paul and Barnabas were gods.  This was a notion that Paul and Barnabas categorically rejected.  Perhaps Jesus’ exhortation to His disciples in Luke 10:20 was intended to warn them against the pride that can develop within the ego of His servants through whom His Spirit does great works.  

As long as we remain focused on the fact that our salvation is by God’s grace alone and that any good work we accomplish is actually the Spirit working in and through us, we will better withstand the temptation to exalt ourselves.  Remaining humble and thankful to God allows us to resist Pride’s attempts to steal credit for the Spirit’s work.

“For many days, neither sun nor stars appeared, and the severe storm kept raging.  Finally all hope that we would be saved was disappearing.  Since many were going without food, Paul stood up among them and said, ‘You men should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete and sustain this damage and loss.  Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only of the ship.  For this night, an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me, and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul.  You must stand before Caesar.  And, look!  God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.’ Therefore, take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told me.  However, we must run aground on a certain island.’”  Acts 27:20-26 (HCSB)

Most of us, who are followers of Jesus, didn’t simply hear the gospel once and believe.  It took time for us to warm up to the idea.  Perhaps, we visited several church services or hung around Christians for a season before we decided to believe.

As for me, I grew up around churches.  I sat through countless sermons and youth group meetings.  They all seemed to say the same thing: If you don’t commit yourself to follow Jesus and repent from your sinful lifestyle, your sins will find you out!  Although I knew I sinned, I laughed at that message.  I figured that God hadn’t judged me thus far, so why should I expect He was going to any time soon, or EVER for that matter?

Without going into too much detail, the night I heard the gospel for the “umpteenth” time, yet finally surrendered to Jesus, it was because my sins had found me out!  On the outside, I probably seemed bulletproof, but on the inside, I was bleeding to death from self-inflicted “sin shot” wounds!  I was hurting and humbled, ripe for the gospel.

If you can relate to my story, you can understand the spiritual state Paul’s traveling companions were in when Paul, a Roman prisoner, took charge and rallied the troops.

Because of God’s revelation to Paul, he could transcend his physical conditions and focus on the greater goal: the salvation of those shipwrecked alongside him.

BELIEVER, have your circumstances run aground, seemingly for no reason?  Look around at those people alongside you and ask the Lord to direct you on how you can parlay your situation into a Kingdom-building opportunity.  He is building “preparedness” into us daily as we read His revealed will, the Bible.  This is so we may be constantly ready to give reason for the hope within us in all seasons.

UNBELIEVER, have you run aground as a consequence of a storm you created with your sin?  Stop rebelling against God’s revealed truth and accept that you need Him.  God has promised salvation to all who, by faith, believe in His Son, Messiah Jesus.  Do it today!