Romans 15:14-21

Be Still: Lord, today open the eyes of my heart. Speak to me through your Word. Guide my steps and lead me in your everlasting ways. Amen

Read:  Romans 15:14-21

'I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.' (v14)

Encounter: Last year I spent 10 days walking the Camino de Santiago. For a few days at the end Rachel joined me. On Rachel’s first day, to make the 25km walk a little easier, I ordered a taxi to take us a to a village along the way, shortening the walk for that day. In my best Spanish, I gave the driver the name of the village. Unfortunately, he dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. He'd misunderstood my Spanish! We now had a 37km walk to complete. We were completely off the very well signed Camino path and had to pioneer a new way through uncertain terrain back to our desired destination. It was both exhausting and exhilarating!

To understand the book of Romans, we need to understand Paul’s pioneering nature. Everything is now new. In Jesus, his death and resurrection, a new way has opened up. The early church was trying to figure out what it all meant for the Son of God to have taken on human flesh. What does the future of humanity look like? How do Jews and Gentiles now live together as one? All these question and realities were both exhilarating and exhausting.

What was clear was that the Kingdom work before them was vast. At the time of Paul writing to the church in Rome, a city of a million plus inhabitants, there were probably no more than one hundred or so Christians living there. Therefore, this was a mission in which everyone needed to play their part. With this in mind, Paul encourages the Christians living in Rome to be ministers alongside him.

Apply: For every one of us, there are multitudes in our orbit who need to know the love of Jesus. The gifts and knowledge God has put within us, his Spirit’s anointing, means we can be confident that we have a part to play in this exciting mission of seeing God’s Kingdom come here on earth!

Devote: Lord thank you that you have filled me with your goodness. Help me to be bold in sharing my faith with those around me.