Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Romans 15:7-9a,
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy.”
Understand:
All of scripture is telling one story. It’s a story about Jesus and our need for Him. The great story is comprised of many little stories found throughout the Old and New Testament narratives, and it is reinforced in the law, poetry, prophecy, and epistles. His birth as the Jewish Messiah and Savior of the world was prophesied by Old Testament authors. Their writings contain more than three hundred separate references to the coming of Jesus, with many unique details. Christ fulfilled 100 percent of all the Old Testament predictions of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah. Every passage in some way draws our attention to our fallenness and Christ’s solution.
Paul wants us to know that the solution for humanity’s fallen condition is not only for the Jews. It’s what he has been sharing throughout all of Romans, but particularly in chapters 9-11. Here, Paul summarizes one of the key theological teachings of the letter: how the fulfillment of God’s promises in the gospel brings blessing to both Jews and Gentiles.
Christ became a servant of the Jews to demonstrate the truthfulness of God (v. 8). In other words, Christ came as a minister to confirm the saving promises that God made to the patriarchs. God repeatedly promised that He would send the Messiah to Israel; Christ’s coming confirmed the truth of those promises.
When I read the verse above, I can’t help but think that Jesus did exactly what He said He would do (Luke 4:16)! In doing so, He not only brought blessings to the Jews, but to the Gentiles also. What an encouraging thought! God purposed that the nations should hear the gospel, and that those people who believe should glorify God for His great mercy.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure (Eph. 1:5 NLT).”
Apply:
I think now would be a good time to stop and offer your praise to God for His perfect plan of salvation.
*From what you have just read and considered: What is a personal implication/application for your life today?
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the Gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.
Inspiration and insight for the devotionals came from the following books: Reading Romans with John Stott; The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World (The Bible Speaks Today Series), Stott, John; Romans (The NIV Application Commentary Book 6) Moo, Douglas J.; Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Encountering Biblical Studies) Moo, Douglas J.; Believers Bible Commentary; The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, with the New International Version, Romans through Galatians; NIV Application Study Bible. The Cambridge Bible Commentary, Romans, Best, Ernest. Romans 8-16 For You: For reading, for feeding (God’s Word For You – Romans Series Book 2, Keller, Timothy.