If I had to sum up what the
epistle to the church at Rome is about,
I would point at two verses
that serve as the “book-ends” of the
book of Romans. They are
found in Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:26
and state that the letter was
written for the “obedience to the faith”.
in this blog post, I
attempt to share the five-fold grace of God that
believers take part
in when they obey the Lord.
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1. From the heart. - (Romans 6:17) (Romans 10:9) This is the first
step of any believer’s obedience. And
it has the potential to be the
most difficult; but one of the most
satisfying ways as well. I’ve
frequently admired Christians as they
operate in this grace of
obedience. It’s a beautiful thing to see people live simplistically as
they go about their lives abiding in
God, delighting themselves in
Him as He gives them their hearts’
desires. (Psalm 37:4)
2.
From the Word of God
– (Luke 11:28) It’s an amazing thing
when people take the scripture verbatim and go about carrying out
what it says.
3. From godly counsel.
- (Proverbs 11:14) (Proverbs 19:20)
There will always come times
throughout the lives of believers
where we will need to obey the Lord thru the guidance and counsel
of other Christians who have insights
on how we should go about
doing things. However, this form takes
humility to confess we
don’t know as we ought and need help.
4. From Holy Spirit
directly. - (Romans 8:14) (Matthew 4:1)
This has been my favorite way
of obeying God for years. I just love
to hear personally from God. It has even gotten to the point where
the Lord has given more emphasis
on other forms to bring me into
more maturity of obeying in other
areas of this five-fold grace than
just hearing from Holy Spirit. But it’s still a favorite.
5. From the needs
of others. (James 2:14-18) (Matthew 10:42)
This one is similar to obeying
from godly counsel. But it focuses on
being obedient to God by responding to the needs of others. Many
Christians throughout history
have leaned heavily on this
point to become obedient to the faith.
And it is in no wise less than
any of the others when it comes to being faithful to God.
In conclusion, what I would
submit here is that throughout the life
of a Christian, we will
follow thru with all of these principles in our
walk. And while
believers may put more emphasis on some rather
than others in this
five-fold grace, the more we engage with each
one of them, the more
mature we will become in time.
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