Romans 1:18-32

Dear RTB’ers,

…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (vv. 19-20) I am in awe of unbelief every time I read these verses. How can people not believe?? Look around, from the macro to the micro, looking through a telescope or a microscope, looking at this created world, how can someone not believe in an infinite mind Creator? I’m stunned at unbelief!

Yes, the beauty of creation…But look at what we’ve accomplished on our own! Paul gives us a good list for examining our own hearts: …God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (vv. 28b-31) OK, maybe I’ve been kinda good the past couple of weeks. But when I look at Paul’s list and look back on my own life, I cringe. And I know then that I am guilty of evil, that I need a redeemer, that only Jesus can forgive everything from my past. And with all that I can confess, be forgiven, and move on. Thank you, Jesus.

Enjoy!

See also: September 19 (2021) / Romans 1:1-32

Romans 1:1-17

Dear RTB’ers,

I’m back!! Thank you, John, for covering for me these past three weeks during Carol’s and my transition to Slovakia. I loved reading your comments; I could have and should have commented on a number of occasions, but as is common among us, I failed to do so. Also, by way of confession to you all, I did fall behind a number of times during these three weeks. I’m used to being up-to-date every day, but it happens… But now I’m caught up and pushing ahead!!

Welcome to Romans! The first/lead epistle in all of our Christian bibles, probably the epistle more often referenced by scholars and preachers than any other. Commentators suggest that Paul wrote Romans from Corinth during his third missionary journey (Acts 20:2-3). He had never been to Rome and wanted to go there (Rom. 1:10); he finally got his wish, arriving as a prisoner. (See Acts 28, which we read a few months back.)

I have mentioned before that Paul often writes long, wordy sentences, sprinkled generously with adjectival and adverbial phrases and parenthetical expressions. Today’s introductory sentence, the first !!seven verses!! beats them all! But when we get beyond that sentence (and the theology contained therein), we begin to get to the meat of his letter. Today’s reading can be succinctly summarized: I am under obligation … to preach the gospel… (vv. 14-15a) That’s where Paul is headed the next sixteen chapters.

Paul follows up his stated purpose with a personal proclamation: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (v. 16) I’m sure many of you have heard of Josh McDowell, a Christian author (Evidence That Demands a Verdict; More Than a Carpenter, etc.) and popular speaker. Years ago (1976, I believe), in my early born-again years I had the pleasure of serving as his driver when he visited the University of Illinois campus. Back then very few students had cars, but I was older and lived off campus, so it fell very nicely to me to chauffer him. I got to know him better than most and bought ETDAV and asked him to sign it. His signature was “Josh McDowell, Romans 1:16”. I remember that every time I read this verse! Sweet!

So, we continue with Romans for the next four weeks. Enjoy!

Proverbs 31

Take a few minutes to think about how you, deep down, might describe an excellent wife. (Pr. 31:10) Knowing that your perspective has been shaped by a variety of forces — for example, your parents and the home you grew up in, societal shifts and expectations over your lifetime, your own marriage (if applicable), the books you’ve read, both fiction and nonfiction — what qualities would you honestly put forward as exemplary for a married woman, or, for that matter, any woman, married or not? How does your paradigm compare with what we read in Proverbs 31:10-31?

Take some time and honestly consider this. Are you offended by anything here? Are you convicted by anything here? Does anything about your own view need to change? (And yes, I am asking all of us, both men and women.)

See also:

• September 20 (2022) / Proverbs 31:1-9
• September 21 (2022) / Proverbs 31:10-31
• August 25 (2023) / Proverbs 30-31

Proverbs 30

This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I have done no wrong.”

Proverbs 30:20

If that doesn’t sound like our current culture, I don’t know what does. Our culture calls evil good, and good evil. It does not confess sin; rather, it proclaims its sin with pride, saying, “I have done no wrong.”

But that is the pathway to death. Let’s stay off that road. Let’s instead acknowledge our sin in true confession and repentance. That is the pathway to His forgiveness and the abundant life that He longs to give us.

See also:

• September 17 (2022) / Proverbs 30:1-10
• September 18 (2022) / Proverbs 30:11-20
• September 19 (2022) / Proverbs 30:21-33

Proverbs 28-29

The wicked flee when no one pursues,
but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28:1

Without explicitly saying so, this proverb speaks of courage. In watching the Being Human video series from The Ridley Institute, I was reminded of this quote from C. S. Lewis:

Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

That is good food for thought. It is not enough to simply theorize about virtue or righteousness or justice. One must put virtue into practice, not only when it is easy, but most especially in the face of true risk or adversity, when courage is required.

So what will it be for you today? Will you flee when no one pursues? Or will you be bold as a lion?

See also:

• September 13 (2022) / Proverbs 28:1-14
• September 14 (2022) / Proverbs 28:15-28
• September 15 (2022) / Proverbs 29:1-14
• September 16 (2022) / Proverbs 29:15-27

Proverbs 26:13-27:27

Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.

Proverbs 27:1

Of course, generally speaking, boasting isn’t particularly good form, over-stating our own self-importance. But boasting over something that hasn’t happened yet is that much more over the top. James puts it this way:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

James 4:13-16

As for other boasting, we might consider these verses, too:

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

Jeremiah 9:23-24

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Galatians 6:14

See also:

• September 10 (2022) / Proverbs 26:13-28
• September 11 (2022) / Proverbs 27:1-14
• September 12 (2022) / Proverbs 27:15-27

Proverbs 25:1-26:12

A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Proverbs 25:11

Indeed.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Colossians 4:6

See also:

• September 7 (2022) / Proverbs 25:1-14
• September 8 (2022) / Proverbs 25:15-28
• September 9 (2022) / Proverbs 26:1-12

Proverbs 24

Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.

Proverbs 24:27

In other words, “First things first” or “Get your priorities straight.” Do those things that are truly needful before attending to less important tasks. For example, field work is a higher priority than house building. If you fail to plant your crops because you are spending your time hanging curtains, you won’t have anything to harvest later, and you will go hungry, despite your nice décor.

That advice applies to our spiritual lives as well. Our most fundamental need is to know God, for He is our life. Are we giving Him the time and attention He warrants? I, for one, have some field work to do…

See also:

• September 4 (2022) / Proverbs 24:1-12
• September 5 (2022) / Proverbs 24:13-22
• September 6 (2022) / Proverbs 24:23-34

Proverbs 22:17-23:35

Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 21:17-18

With all the advertising that gets thrown at us, with all the unreality we soak in from Hollywood, with all the material prosperity of the obviously-not-so-righteous around us, it can be hard not to envy sinners. The sinner’s life seems easy. They cheat and get away with it, bribing their way out of trouble. They speak arrogantly and abuse others, all the while enjoying material success. At least, that can be our perception, as in the first half of Psalm 73.

But that limited perception is not the whole story. We would do well to maintain a broader perspective and remember the LORD, as in the second half of Psalm 73. In Christ, we do indeed have a bright future and hope, far better than anything that might tempt us toward envy in this world.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:18

See also:

• July 26 (2022) / Proverbs 22:17-29
• September 1 (2022) / Proverbs 23:1-11
• September 2 (2022) / Proverbs 23:12-21
• September 3 (2022) / Proverbs 23:22-35

Proverbs 20:14-22:16

When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous
but terror to evildoers.

Proverbs 21:15

We can see the truth of this proverb illustrated throughout history at various levels, from the punishment of notorious criminals to the defeat of the Axis powers by the Allies in World War II. But any such illustration is partial at best. Only in the Final Judgment will this proverb be fully realized, and on that Day, I’d like to be counted among the righteous, wouldn’t you? Yet none of us is righteous on our own. On our own we can have only the expectation of real terror. Our only hope is to be found in Christ, to be clothed in His righteousness. There, in Christ, we will find joy on that Day as God sets all things right and wipes away every tear. (Rev. 21:4)

See also:

• July 22 (2022) / Proverbs 20:16-30
• July 23 (2022) / Proverbs 21:1-16
• July 24 (2022) / Proverbs 21:17-31
• July 25 (2022) / Proverbs 22:1-16
• May 10 (2023) / Proverbs 18:1-22:16