Good Morning Friends,
“Or do you show contempt for the riches of
his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads
you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant
heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath,
when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God ‘will give to each person
according to what he has done.’ To those who by persistence in doing good seek
glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are
self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and
anger.” (Romans 2:4-8)
Romans 2 is a depressing chapter of the New
Testament. It doesn’t take long for an honest person to find a great deal to
feel guilty about in what Paul writes in that chapter. Those who are honest
about themselves recognize that God’s righteous judgment will find us
unrighteous and subject to His wrath.
It’s a depressing place to be, and exactly
the place God wants us to be. It is only when we understand our own
unrighteousness and understand that we deserve the wrath of God that we are ready
to be told the Good News. The good news is that it’s not our own righteousness
that will save us. Rather, it is the acceptance of our own unrighteousness and
the appeal to God, through Jesus Christ, for forgiveness and a changed life.
Paul dashes to pieces the philosophy of the
world that teaches that man is inherently good. Man is not inherently good, but
inherently wicked and depraved. We are selfish and stubborn and filled with
evil into the deepest recesses of our hearts. Our only hope is that something
can be done for us by someone else, because we can’t do anything for ourselves.
And, thanks be to God, He has provided, in Christ, all that we need!
Romans 2 leaves us in the pit of despair, but
fortunately the New Testament doesn’t end with Romans 2. The Good News is just
around the corner – just wait for chapter three. In the meantime, let’s admit
our own wickedness and helplessness and thank God that He has sent Someone to
do for us what we could never do for ourselves.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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