Author: mary

Praise that comes from the Lord is true praise and should be the only praise that matters. When we do something for the Lord, what He thinks should be the only kind of recognition we need. Romans 2:29 says, “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

There are many things that are done in this world in vain. Organizations through the community that praise and recognize man instead of God, can still bring about good for all involved; however, anything done for the Lord is better and will be a reward for those who are involved. When you serve the Lord, do not worry about being recognized by man. This will never bring about the same blessings you will feel when you serve the Lord. Serving the Lord is a joy.

There are many things in this world that lead us astray; false teaching for one. The world longs to cling to any teaching that makes sin acceptable and pleasing. God will give people up to their sins when they make them acceptable as it says in Romans 1:26-27: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

In this day in age, society has made any kind of relationship acceptable. They are trying to teach their beliefs on what the family should look like everywhere and if you do not accept their teaching, then they call you close-minded or judgemental. As these verses say, they gave up natural relations for unnatural ones. What is worse is that they have made all types of unnatural relations acceptable in society. Some will even say that God thinks it is acceptable as well; however, these people do not know God at all.

As believers, we must guard our hearts and minds to believe only what God has taught in His Word to be true and reject anything that contradicts scripture.

Man relies on his own wisdom all the time. From the moment Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, man started craving wisdom. Paul says in Romans 1:21-23, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

When you rely on your own wisdom, your thinking will become futile. These verses say that your heart can even become darkened when you rely on your wisdom instead of God’s. The people that Paul describes even claim to be wise while being fools all along. Anyone who thinks he is wiser than the Lord is incredibly mistaken. He says these people exchanged the glory of God for human (man-made) images.

We do this all the time in society. We exchange the truth of God and His glory for man-made pleasures, for a lie. Sometimes we even do this on a daily basis when we trust ourselves and our own wisdom over the Lord.

Have you ever been ashamed of anything in your life? Maybe you did something you were not proud of. Maybe you embarrassed yourself or others. If we are being honest, then we have probably all been ashamed of someone or something at some point in our lives! Some of us may even be ashamed on a daily basis!

The word ashamed means the opposite of proud. It means to feel shame, guilt, or disgrace. I don’t know about you, but I spent a lot of my childhood trying to make my family proud of them. I did not want them to be disgraced. I did everything possible and it usually worked. However, there were times in my life when I brought shame to them as well by my actions or words. Paul may have spent a lot of his later life feeling ashamed by his actions and words toward Christians. When he came to know Christ, he was not about to be ashamed of the One who had saved him. He says in Romans 1:16, “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.”

When God is first in your life, it will be rare that you will be ashamed of him. We typically aren’t ashamed of the ones we really love. However, if He is further down the list, you will find yourself being ashamed of Him often. Ask yourself what happens when someone mentions God. How do you react?

As Christians, we must have the heart of a thankful servant. Thankful for God and thankful for others. Paul says in Romans 1:8, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.” Paul opened his letter to the Romans with a thankful heart. He was truly thankful for them and their faith. The faith they had in the Lord was so strong that it was made known around the world! Can you imagine such a faith?

The one who comes to my mind when I think of someone whose faith is “being reported around the world,” is Billy Graham. According to his obituary written on February 21, 2018, “Throughout his life, Billy Graham preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to some 215 million people who attended one of his more than 400 Crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies in more than 185 countries and territories. He reached millions more through TV, video, film, the internet and 34 books.” His faith reached many nations and people groups. Everytime he spoke, the Word of God was made known to the people around him. He was not afraid to share his faith; in fact, he became an ambassador for the Lord. It was the joy of his life to share the gospel. According to his obituary, he even trained ministers and leaders in 208 countries to bring the gospel to their nations.

Take some time to examine your own faith today. Does your faith inspire others to share the gospel? Is your life message about seeing others come to know Him? If not, spend some time in prayer today, asking God to place a joy for the gospel in your heart.