Enjoy Life, Enjoy God
IN BEHALF OF OTHERS
October 24, 2011
To help others, what might we be willing to set aside, to sacrifice, to give up?
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people...
--Romans 9:3 TNIV
The Apostle Paul sees his friends, family, his Jewish roots, largely forsaking the faith revealed in Christ. He writes to the Romans inviting them into the faith, but what he witnesses is their apathy, their distraction, their hardness of heart, and it breaks his heart. He says, "I would be willing to cast myself aside in order to rescue them."
What would we be willing to cast aside to rescue the ones we love? In behalf of others, is our love such that we give "it" all away? The truth is that in Jesus Christ, it is not necessary. He's already done it. But today, if Paul were to look at how we live, I pray he would not think it necessary to be cursed and cut off, by the apathetic and unfaithful way we live. Something to think about.
Joyfully,
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people...
--Romans 9:3 TNIV
The Apostle Paul sees his friends, family, his Jewish roots, largely forsaking the faith revealed in Christ. He writes to the Romans inviting them into the faith, but what he witnesses is their apathy, their distraction, their hardness of heart, and it breaks his heart. He says, "I would be willing to cast myself aside in order to rescue them."
What would we be willing to cast aside to rescue the ones we love? In behalf of others, is our love such that we give "it" all away? The truth is that in Jesus Christ, it is not necessary. He's already done it. But today, if Paul were to look at how we live, I pray he would not think it necessary to be cursed and cut off, by the apathetic and unfaithful way we live. Something to think about.
Joyfully,
Dale Patterson