40 Days of GRACE - 32

Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of GRACE
Day 32 | WONDERFUL GRACE
WONDERFUL GRACE

Romans 16:17-20
“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.  For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.  Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The wonderful grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” 
(AMP)

This 40-day grace series shows that GRACE is a “cornerstone” of our faith in Christ.  Only the LORD can provide us with it, and we can either accept it, thankfully, or not.

Here, even in the church in Rome, there were troublemakers.  Perhaps better said, these were “sheep in wolves clothing” who were trying to dissuade the young Christians in Rome from following The Way of Jesus and were doing so by using slick words and words of flattery to guide the newbies into the spiritual weeds.

This should remind us that although we don’t like it and wish it didn’t exist, there is a spiritual battle around us and NOT just thousands of miles away in the mid-east.  We each have friends, neighbors, and acquaintances who disagree with our faith in God and Jesus, our Savior and Lord, and will try – albeit subtly – to get us to join them in their “faith” or even their “non-faith.”
 
That happened in the church in Rome and Paul wrote to confront the problem and warn the true and young believers:  “But I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”

Ultimately, Paul encourages them with a preview of coming attractions, the same that we hold on to today: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The wonderful grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

Prayer: Lord, thank You for the peace and grace you offer me and for the promise of what will happen to our ultimate enemy in Your time. Amen.
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