NIPTO, Day 71

Good morning! I'm up. I'm ready to blog I guess. 

Romans today... We talked a little bit about Romans last night. Brandon told us a story that was kind of intense.

He told us about a long time pastor who was starting a sermon on a book/chapter that Paul wrote. He was reading Paul's greeting and almost quit the church. That's how intense this was. The greeting in Romans is this: 

¹Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— ²the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, ⁴and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ⁶And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

What I want to focus on are verses 1, 5, and 6. 

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. In the NASB, the word for servant is actually "bond servant." A bond servant was someone who chose to follow his master. A bond servant didn't get paid. He served his master because he wanted to. Simple as that. Paul was a bond servant of God.  

Set apart for the gospel of God. Paul was set apart. God's will was for Paul to be set apart... God's will was also to have Paul put in prison, beaten, shipwrecked, and ultimately killed. Uhm. WOW. God wanted all that to happen to Paul... 

Do I really want to know God's will for my life? Once I do know what God's will is for my life, do I want to be held accountable for that? 

I'd love to really believe that I want to know God's will for my life. But it's honestly really scary to just hand everything over to God. I like control. I like knowing what's going on. Giving myself completely to God means I give that up. To be his bond servant who will do whatever he wants because I love him and want to serve him. Scary. Like, horror movie scary. (I don't watch horror movies and I don't want to ever watch horror movies because I just don't like being scared... but I do like roller coasters. But that's physically scary, not emotionally scary.) 

Do I really want to know God's will for my life? 

That's my question for the week... and the rest of my life? Unless I answer it. (An even scarier thought.)

⁵Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ⁶And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus we receive grace. Amazing grace/How sweet the sound/That saved a wretch like me...

We also receive apostleship which is basically the ability to follow Jesus. 

We are called as apostles to call other people to Christ. 

I like verse 6 and don't like it at the same time. It goes back to what I was talking about a little bit ago. We are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. We're called to be with him, but we're also called to BELONG to him... Do I want to fully belong to Jesus? 

I'm tearing my hair out here! (Not really. But ya know)

Here's a song that I'm listening to right now. I love it.

They tell me there's songs reserved for angels
Would you sing me one, a stranger
Just to prove your love? 
They tell me youve given poor men kingdoms
And handed guilty freedom
And taken on their stains
And your love will never change
Your love will never change
They tell me that you dwell with good and evil
In alleys and cathedrals
Shadows and the light
They tell me that you hold the world together
Not from guilt, but pleasure
And you somehow know my name
And your love will never change
Your love will never change
So tell me there's nothing that you can't do
And you'll love me though Ive hurt you
And that you'll take my blame
And your love will never change
Your love will never change