Tag: Romans

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No Difference?

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 7 Listen: (4:32)
Read: Romans 10 Listen: (3:21)

Scripture Focus: Romans 10.12-15

12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Reflection: No Difference?

By John Tillman

The founding document of the United States says “all men are created equal,” yet its authors and signers failed to live out that principle fully. We still have difficulty living it out both politically and spiritually.

Ignoring racial, socioeconomic, and cultural differences is difficult. We often look down with distrust on those from poorer backgrounds or countries or we resent the wealthy upper classes who come from different circumstances.

The greater the difference, the harder it is to see them as “equals.” Legal equality isn’t the same as equality in our hearts.

Paul said there was “no difference” between Jew and Gentile. Isn’t this unrealistic or delusional? The Jews and Gentiles saw differences.

The Jews had “paid their dues,” serving and submitting to God’s laws for centuries. How could Paul make the Gentiles equal to them by saying that there is “no difference?” Jews viewed their culture as advanced and their wisdom beyond reproach. Jews were “chosen.” Gentiles were not. Jews were “holy” Gentiles were “unclean.” Jacob was “loved.” Esau was “hated.”

There were differences of language, dress, customs, food, holidays, and rituals. Both groups thought the other strange. Within each group there were those who had suspicion, disdain, or open hatred toward the other group.

Paul wasn’t saying that Greek and Jewish art, food, educational systems, or customs were equally good. Paul also was not picking winners or losers in a cultural conflict. Paul was describing a spiritual status that makes all the other differences unimportant by comparison.

The only difference that matters is being in Christ or not. And the only thing Paul calls us to do about the difference, is to evangelize. Not to blame. Not to fear. Not to accuse. Not to demonize. Not to fight or win. To evangelize.

It is difficult to evangelize those you demonize. It is difficult to share the truth with those you slander. It is difficult to tell good news about Jesus when people hear the bad news you share about them. This makes beautiful feet not so beautiful. (Isaiah 52.7; Romans 10.15)

Paul does not say everyone who votes or eats, prays or sings, dresses or worships like us will be saved. He said, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2.32; Acts 2.21; Romans 10.13)

Let us not call unclean what God calls clean. (Acts 10.15)

Let us be dedicated to making it possible for all people to call on his name.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all peoples. — Psalm 96.2-3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Be Awake Be Light

Scripture Focus: 1 Thessalonians 5.2 (49-51 AD)
 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

Romans 13.11-14 (57-58 AD)
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Ephesians 5.8-17 (60-62 AD)
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.


Reflection: Be Awake Be Light
By John Tillman

In college, I was not a heavy partier. I never drank. I was unlikely to be at rowdy, noisy, crowded bars or parties. However, I was often up all night playing spades, talking, watching films, playing computer games, or role-playing games, etc. Oh, yeah…and doing all-nighters to finish class assignments at the last minute.

We had shutters on our dorm room window that provided a cave-like darkness to sleep in, regardless of the time of day. One early morning as I was cranking the shutters closed on our dorm window to sleep because the sun was coming up, I realized I’d been doing this several days in a row. I mentioned to my roommate that we had gradually become nocturnal. We were awake when we should be asleep and asleep when we should be awake. We lived in the darkness.

When Paul wrote about darkness and light and being awake and asleep, he wasn’t talking about all-nighters. He repeatedly wrote about these metaphors and must have spoken about them frequently. This passage in 1 Thessalonians is echoed and further developed in Romans 13, and Ephesians 5.

Being awake and being in the light is good. Being asleep or drowsy and being in the darkness or behaving like we are in the darkness is bad.

In Christ, we are “of the light” but live in a world dominated by darkness. Darkness and light are different worlds, different realities, that overlap. How then should we live?

Be aware. When awake, we are wary of the dangers and temptations of darkness. Evil, sin, corruption, and wickedness surround us. We must stay vigilant to resist them.

Be active. Light is a weapon against the darkness, a sword that cuts through shadows. Systems that enable or conceal sin and corruption must be actively opposed and revealed using the light of truth.

Be bright. We must shine bright to wake others. When we bring light to those lost in darkness they can join the kingdom of light. When we shine, what we illuminate becomes part of the light. (Ephesians 5.13-14)

Be joyful. We await the coming of dawn not with dread but with joy. Those in the dark fear the exposure of their deeds. We rejoice that our sins are swallowed up and burned away by Christ’s light.

Don’t live in the darkness any longer. Be aware. Be active. Be bright. Be joyfully in the light.

Music: “In The Light” by Charlie Peacock with Sara Groves

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
How great is your goodness, O Lord! Which you have laid up for those who fear you; which you have done in the sight of all. — Psalm 31.19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 20 (Listen 3:07)
1 Thessalonian 5 (Listen 2:37)

Read more about Inner Light of the Heart
The Holy Spirit is an inner light for surviving the darkness and helping others lost within it.

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Read more about Readers’ Choice
Readers’ Choice starts soon. Tell us your favorite posts of the year via email, direct message, or the linked form and we will reshare them in September.

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Hope Consuming Darkness

Scripture Focus: Joel 2.30-32
30 I will show wonders in the heavens 
and on the earth, 
blood and fire and billows of smoke. 
31 The sun will be turned to darkness 
and the moon to blood 
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 
32 And everyone who calls 
on the name of the Lord will be saved; 
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem 
there will be deliverance, 
as the Lord has said, 
even among the survivors 
whom the Lord calls.

Acts 2.21
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Romans 10.13
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Reflection: Hope Consuming Darkness
By John Tillman

An unstoppable army advances like fire, burning and devouring everything in its path. Cultivated land like the Garden of Eden becomes a barren desert waste.

Witnesses describe the sound of locusts feeding on crops and trees as a crackling fire. Joel used the recent trauma of a plague of locusts to warn of future disasters. “Did you see this insect army ravage the land? There are greater ravagers on the way.”

Some faith leaders today refer to Joel, using recent disasters to terrify and manipulate. But Joel also promised salvation, both in the moment and an ultimate future restoration.

The destruction Joel described was caused by sin. Its solution was returning to the Lord in repentance. Sin is not just individual actions, like one bug crawling in our kitchen, but societal swarms that plague the earth—a consuming darkness. We’ve all experienced the ravages of sin in our personal lives, our communities, and the world. We’ve seen Edens become wastelands.

Peter and Paul knew darkness, and both read Joel not as terrifying but as hope in the midst of darkness that is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. Peter quoted Joel in his first sermon, ending with, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2.14-21) Paul also picked up on this promise, repeating the ending quote of Peter’s sermon, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10.13)

Jesus is our salvation, both in the moment and in an ultimate future restoration. There may be darkness ahead and sin in our past or future. Like Peter or Paul, we may have betrayed or persecuted Christ. (Matthew 26.72-74; Philippians 3.6) We may have resorted to or endorsed violence. (John 18.10; Acts 7.57-58) We may have been ashamed and humbled. (Luke 22.61-62; Acts 9.3-5) But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

What darkness has eaten at you? Blocked out the light? Settled on your fields? Obscured your hope?

We will not be lost in consuming darkness. The consuming darkness will be consumed by hope.

No matter how dark it gets, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 
No matter how frightening it feels, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 
No matter if we die, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. — Psalm 31.24

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Joel 2 (Listen 5:26)
Matthew 19 (Listen 4:04)

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In response to unprecedented times, Joel encourages the people to enter into a time of unprecedented prayer and repentance. 

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Why The Cross?

Scripture Focus: Matthew 2.13
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 

Galatians 4.4-5
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Romans 5.7
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Reflection: Why The Cross?
By John Tillman

If salvation merely needed the blood of the sinless one, then any death would do. Herod’s soldiers could have killed two-year-old Jesus. He could have leaped from the top of the Temple as he was tempted by Satan. His friends and neighbors could have thrown him off of a cliff. He could have been stoned. He could have been beaten with clubs or killed with the sword.

Why the cross?

Inside and outside Christianity, people express discomfort with the cross. “Isn’t it gross?” “Isn’t it violent?”

Ancient people agreed. Perhaps the first historical depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion is the Alexamenos graffito, dated to about 200 AD. It scoffs, “Alexamenos worships his god,” under the image of a donkey-headed crucified man. 

I saw a set of memes recently from a former Christian who is now a skeptic/atheist. The AI-generated images showed life if Rome used guillotines rather than crosses. In a beautiful cathedral, a guillotine hung in shafts of stained glass-colored light during a wedding. Monks carried a flower-bedecked guillotine through festival streets. Elaborate guillotines decorated headstones and crypts in a peaceful graveyard.

Why is the cross worthy of architectural enshrinement in our places of worship? Why is it worthy of remembrance in festivals, jewelry, and decor? Why is it worthy of being a symbol of reverent hope on headstones? Why obsess over a gruesome instrument of torture?

In his sovereignty, out of all places, all times, and all means, Jesus chose the cross to bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil. (Romans 5.6; Galatians 4.4-5) 

Jesus did many good things before the cross. Healing. Teaching. Serving. Jesus did many good things after the cross. The harrowing of Hell. The resurrection. The ascension. The coming of the Holy Spirit. But on the cross is where he accomplished the ultimate good he came for. 

Every good thing before the cross pointed to it. Every good thing after the cross is evidence of the power broken on it.

On the cross, God was in Christ, reconciling us to himself (2 Corinthians 5.18-19), accomplishing all that scripture promised. Sin dead. Death defeated. Satan vanquished. 

The cross is worthy because of the work Jesus did on it: “It is finished.” (John 19.30) So, we are not ashamed of the gospel revealed on the cross. Let us continue to remind ourselves of it, center our teaching on it, and reverence it in every appropriate way.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress? — Psalm 22.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Song of Songs 5 (Listen 2:43)
Matthew 2 (Listen 3:18)

This Weekend’s Readings
Song of Songs 6 (Listen 1:48) Matthew 3 (Listen 2:17)
Song of Songs 7 (Listen 1:55) Matthew 4 (Listen 3:09)

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He is about to die on their behalf. The one who hung the moon will hang on a cross.

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Jesus knew that most of his audience would recognize the quote and understand that he was referencing the entire psalm.

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When the Day Turns Dark

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 32.17-18
17 They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God—
    gods they had not known,
    gods that recently appeared,
    gods your ancestors did not fear.
18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
    you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Deuteronomy 32.39
39 See now that I myself am he!
    There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
    I have wounded and I will heal,
    and no one can deliver out of my hand.

Romans 3.25-26
25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Reflection: When the Day Turns Dark
By Anna Beth Vollema 

Come, let us contest child, 
    if you will not leave me again.
If you will not bend
    to the whisper of the air; 
Soft and Sweet,
    easy and enticing,
    everything you asked for;
When you spoke out of the night,  
    out of desperation and impatience, 
    out of fear and forgetfulness;
    distractedness. 
You’ll want it all,
    and you’ll want it quickly.
Like a junkie wanting his next fix, 
    you’ll strip your gold bangles,
    you’ll pull out your hairs,
    you’ll throw in your shambles,
    you’ll give up your years,
To an idol of your own making; 
    a statue in your own image; 
    a chasing after the wind. 

Tremble my child, and quake.   
 For I AM he; 
    there is no god besides Me!
My presence is life; 
    My absence is death.
The justice you long for is the crown of my head;
    the chaos of the world is reigned by my ropes;
    and the floodgates of my wrath will clear all the wrongs. 
So, bask in the light of my face, oh child; 
    shelter in the rays of my eyes
For I see what you need,
    and I see who you’ll be.
So, be with me.
Or I’ll have to let you go;
    go stumbling after the wind;
    go traipsing into the floodwaters, 
    so that you taste darkness again. 
The darkness of my absence; 
    My face turned away. 
You’ll bear the burden, 
    I bear for you every day. 
You’ll bear the sadness, 
    of remembering what once was; 
The sweetness of the food,
    in the house of your First Love. 
I’ll let you bear this burden
    so that you remember again, 
       who I AM; 
       who I’ve been; 
       the redemption, 
       in my hands. 

Rest my child, be still. 
For I AM He;
    there is no contest,
    there is no god besides Me!
By my life there is Truth; 
    by my death, there is life. 
Justice was quenched by my time on the tree, 
    the chaos of the world will end by my love, 
And from the floodgates of my wrath, 
    you will be protected. 
So, bask in the light of this lamb, oh child; 
    shelter in these lion eyes. 
By wrath and mercy intertwined,
     my love, unified; 
To set you free
    free to run back to Me; 
    free to skip like a child,
    on a holiday at the sea. 


Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face. — Psalm 105.4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 32 (Listen7:10)
Romans 12 (Listen 2:58)

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