I hope you’re digging into some study in this New Year that will produce fruit in 2023 for you. I know it can be hard, but oh how sweet the fruit. I have a dear friend whose motto for 2022 was “New Year, New Me.” As believers, that should be our everyday motto, being obedient and open to change will allow the Lord to sanctify and make us holy on a daily basis. Remember, believing in Jesus is just the beginning.
The New Year brought me into a study of Romans. Today is day 11 of the New Year and I’m still only on verse 8, it is rabbit hole city!Let me say first of all that your faith in God is becoming known throughout the world. How I thank God through Jesus Christ for each one of you. Romans 1:8
This verse right here is one of the reasons I’ve been moving so slow. Romans is chocked full of really cool, thought provoking scripture. Remember, scripture is to be thought about, it does absolutely no good to read scripture or memorize scripture, if it doesn’t produce change in our lives. If reading scripture is not causing us to think, we might as well not read it. Harsh, but true. Goodness, I keep getting off track (another reason I’m only on verse 8), so I’ll get to the point. When I read Romans I was struck. Verses 1-7 were some meaty greetings from Paul in which he immediately starts talking about the Good News. I love it, he doesn’t wait to make friends, or wait for just the right moment, or wait to be asked, or wait for the right setting, he hops in with both feet to proclaim Jesus to a group of people he has never met (we should make note). Paul was writing to the Christians in Rome, Jews and Gentiles. No doubt, the Christians (and others) had heard about the Apostle Paul, but in Verse 8 he’s letting them know, he has heard about them too. What had he heard? That the Christians in Rome had an excellent reputation and their strong faith was making itself known around the world. This is what gave me pause and left me with many of my own questions to ponder. What do people say about me? What do people say about my church? What do people say about my faith? What’s my reputation? Is there something else I would prefer they say about me or my church? I’m a a verb person, so after mulling all that over, my next thought was what is the best way to get the public to recognize my faith, my Jesus? Have you ever thought about that? How do I make my faith known to the whole world, or at least my little corner of it? Well, the answers came quite quickly, maybe because they are quite obvious. If I want people to recognize my faith, to recognize my Jesus, I have to speak my faith and live my faith. I have to act like Jesus would. My life has to line up with my lips. And just as important as what I do do to speak and live my faith, is what I don’t do. Over and over in Paul’s New Testament writings he talks about faith reputations. Remember, if we claim to belong to Jesus, our words and our actions are reflections of Him, not us. It is His reputation at risk, not ours.The word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. 1 Thessalonians 1:8
Paul’s message to the Romans and the Thessalonians should encourage us to ring in a New Year, New Me. We must be the people who ring the word of the Lord everywhere we go to those we know and those we don’t know.