For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16 (NIV)
Romans, one of my very favorite books of the Bible, I live in and out of Romans 8, but this, this is what comes before that. Some hard truths, but also truths that allow us to live with the power of God, truths that allow us to bring heaven down to earth. One of my go-to running songs right now is by Phil Wickham, I Believe: “No, I’ll never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How could I ever walk away from the One who saved my life?” It convicts me and causes me to keep running this race the Lord has set before me. And in this season of my life, this obligation, it is one I feel to my core.
For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. Romans 1:14 (NLT)
To be who God has called me to be and tell the world about Jesus Christ. As we read on in Romans 1, Paul goes back to what has happened, how Rome got to where it was at that point. How over and over again people turned away from God. How over and over again “…They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself.” (Romans 1:25 NLT) So, God let them and when He left them to their own desires, all hell broke loose. “There lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.” (Romans 1:29 NLT) The list goes on and on. What’s worse is they knew. They knew God, they knew what His justice required and yet, they didn’t choose God. So, instead of being a slave to God, they became a slave to the enemy. Sound familiar? Because as I read through Romans 1, it sure just seemed like I was reading a news report in 2024. A bunch of people, people who know who God is, and yet we don’t always choose Him. The reality of what we are facing today is the same reality that existed thousands of years ago. And it all stems from our lack of worship to our Lord and Savior; our lack of of humility and ability to surrender. What our world needs more of are these things. And above all, honestly, we need more worship because worship draws us close to God, even when we are unable to surrender, unable to find humility within ourselves and let go of our pride; worship leads us back to God. When we draw close to God, He draws near to us. The closer He is, the stronger we become to fight the enemy. Jesus tells us out right that we cannot serve two masters.
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Matthew 6:24 (NLT)
The devil or Jesus. Those are our options. It can never be both. If we are not serving God, worshiping God, we are a slave to the evil one. We might think we have freedom, but we in fact do not. And if we choose that “freedom” more than we choose God, we are turning our backs on the Holy One. And what is to come is death. After reading through Revelation this last year, this became abundantly clear to me. We are in this in between, we are *patiently* enduring a whole lot of suffering so that God can save more people, bring more people into His Kingdom. Sounds beautiful and full of grace, but some days I just say to God, “Is it the end yet?” Because honestly, it is painful, just waiting around in this world where the darkness closes in on us. But what Revelation taught me was it is not just waiting. There is SO MUCH PURPOSE in that waiting. And God has given me a sense of urgency to speak truth over our world, to shine His light, and to love His people. Our world is full of evil, but it is also full of so much goodness. The evil just seems to keep seeping into our daily lives more and more. SO, how do we combat it? How do we fight to be a slave ONLY to Jesus Christ?
We go back to church. We surround ourselves with community that is dedicated to serve God alone. We worship our Lord and Savior. When something good happens, we give Him the glory. When something bad happens, we turn to Him for peace, comfort, and answers. We surrender our lives to Him, again and again. Because the thing is, He is on our side. We just have to intentionally choose Him, every day of our lives. What are we doing today to make that choice? Who are we surrounding ourselves with? What are we doing in our place of work? How are we living for God? There are a lot of lukewarm Christians, which is okay, we have to start somewhere. We all have a beginning when it comes to our walk with God, we all have to believe at our own level of comfort. But, God, well He is not really in it for the comfortability and He loves us way too much to leave us as we are. If we really want to fight the evil in this world, it will take all of us to be all out for God!
Love and Blessings,
Radical Road 