Monday, November 28, 2005

Daily Devotion for November 28, 2005

E-Mail from a Pauline Source - 1
 
I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith. Romans 1:16
 
Paul's letters are among the most influential ever written even if by today's standards they were certainly snail mail. In another sense, however, they might be regarded as E-mail, for the leading themes of Paul's letters all seem to begin with E.
 
Paul's message, for example, was fundamentally evangelical. That's a word that has various connotations, and a word that makes some people feel uneasy. Gospel or evangel (from the Greek euangelion), let's remember, means good news.
 
Against the background of the bad news about human nature and human society (evidence of which fills our newspapers and the TV news every night), the good news according to Paul is that we are justified or accepted back into a right relationship with God "as a gift" (Romans 3:24). Normally we're pretty suspicious of free gifts: when I get a printed letter in the mail which begins, "Dear Mr. Hetzner, you are in the final round to win one million dollars," it goes straight into the wastepaper basket. But the Gospel proclaims that in Christ God offers us his grace as a gift, to be received through faith. That is the basic conviction which transformed Paul's life and which can transform our lives also.
 
Prayer
Help us to realize, O God, that while by ourselves we can never earn or merit your salvation, nevertheless that salvation is freely offered to us as a gift. May we claim the free gift of your grace through faith so that our whole lives may thereby be transformed. Amen.
 

Did someone send you this Devotion? Would you like to receive future ones directly? Click here to subscribe.

Want to learn more about the Bible Jesus used – The Old Testament – and the Bible Jesus taught?  Enroll today in Word Among Us – Cover to Cover study of the Bible starting in Genesis and going through Revelation including the inter - testamental period, using history and archeology and Biblical culture to make the text alive - taught by Tim Hetzner.
Class sites are across the USA. Click here for more information.

Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
333 W. Lake Street, Addison, Illinois 60101
(866) 455-6466 • Fax: (866) 451-1476
Web Site: lcc.LutheranChurchCharities.org
E-Mail: TimHetzner@LutheranChurchCharities.org

At the end of the day. . . Making A Difference
In People's Lives and In God's Kingdom

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home