The Rodeo is in full swing in Houston. Before it began, there was a cook-off. If you can imagine 300 teams cooking sausage, ribs, brisket, and finding the one team judged best. Well, that is how the festivities start. The funds raised are used for scholarships for students. It’s a major event in this city. And people know of it, and come to celebrate.
Centuries ago a man arrived in Rome and wrote a letter. Rome, the center of the empire, a place of power, had literature, art, philosophies, and amusements of many kinds. Yet this letter, written by this really unknown visitor, has had more effect on life and the way it is lived than anything Rome ever produced.
This letter is the premier document of Christian theology.
It answers more clearly than any other “What is wrong with this world? Why is the world in its present condition?”
Read the second half of the first chapter of Romans again. I know of no passage in Scripture which describes so accurately the world of today and the cause of the trouble.
Paul writes (v.19) “That which may be known of God is manifested in them, for God hath shown it unto them.” So “they are without excuse”. (V.20c.) And the result, verses 21 – 32 is a strong statement of what results in such behavior, mostly because (v.21.22.) “Their foolish heart was darkened. . .so thinking themselves wise, they became fools.”
That leads to behavior that is described in the next verses. Because they hated God, “God gave them over,:” to the things that are going on in this world.
It is a strong indictment. So the letter to the Romans also has this, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” For the person who believes Jesus Christ died for his sins, there is eternal hope.
And that is why reading and understanding the teachings in this book of the bible is so filled with comfort and “peace with God”. May God bless your reading of this word to you.
GPD 2/27/13
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