Focus on Eternity

     For the past several weeks, I've been studying the book of Romans.   I plan to spend considerable time in this book, Lord willing.   I've recently learned that Paul uses a technique in his writing called 'charaz,' which means that he strings passages of Scripture together as if he were stringing perils.  Because I'm from the Midwest, I can more easily relate to creating a popcorn string to decorate a Christmas tree.   Whether perils or popcorn, Paul is stringing together Old Testament truths to support his gospel message.        It wasn't until Jesus visited him on the road to Damascus that Paul was able to piece together a clear understanding of the New Covenant that God had planned from the very beginning.  The more I study Paul's writings, the more profound I find his wisdom.   In prior journeys through Romans, I have missed much of what Paul was trying to say, but now I'm taking smaller bites...

        This morning I had a short but heavy reading from my Bible, which focused on sin.   As I read, this thought lingered, 'It's an ugly truth; even though we know better, we seldom do better.'   In his letter, Paul states that sin accompanies not acknowledging God (see Romans 1:28). I've never spent four days on one chapter like I have this week, but my New Year resolution was to look more deeply into the book of Romans.   In these short nine verses (Romans 1:24-32), we see the phrase, "God gave them up," three times (see verses 24,26 and 28).   First, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity.   Second, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, and last, God gave them up to a debased mind.   Who is the 'them' in these verses?   Yes, that is an awkward sentence, yet we must know that 'them' refers to sinful humanity.      Each time God releases man, it is traced to a cause; it is not un...