ALL ON COMMON GROUND
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Opening Prayer
Father in Heaven, help me to see myself as you see me. Remind me through your Word that I am precious in your sight, and, in Christ, I am holy and blameless before you.
Read ROMANS 2:1—16
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Romans
Romans 2
1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”
7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;
10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,
15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
Reflect
Which three words describe how you feel about today? Turn those words into prayer. What words might God be speaking back to you?It’s been said that every time we point a finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at us (try it!).
Clearly, in Rome, there was a group (maybe the Jewish Christians) who were taking the higher moral ground. They felt that they were in a position to point the finger at others (perhaps the gentile Christians). However, they were wrong: accusers and accused were all on the same ground.
The accusers had developed an enormous blind spot and failed to see that even as they criticized the behavior of others, they were in fact just as guilty (v. 1). Just knowing the law (as the Jews did) was not enough: living it was what counted (v. 13). Jews knew the law, and gentiles ‘sensed’ the law in their consciences (vv. 14, 15), but all had failed to live lives shaped by God’s truth (vv. 12—16).
How attentive are you being to God’s call to a holy life? God’s kindness leaves space for us to turn back to him (v. 4), so rather than pointing the finger at others, it is better to respond to the fingers pointing back at ourselves.
Apply
‘Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature’ (Colossians 3:5).
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, please show me anything in my life that still needs to be changed, even ‘put to death.’ Keep me focused on walking close to my Savior, reflecting who he is in all that I am and do.
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