Romans 4

Romans 4

A few things stood out to me here.

I was always taught that salvation is by faith and not by works in that God's grace is something that we cannot earn nor is it something that we deserve. In reading Romans 4, the scriptural proof that salvation is by faith alone took another dimension. Paul used Abraham as his first example citing Abraham's faith for his righteousness as opposed to his works even though Abraham was an obedient servant of the Lord and did many things in God's name. Paul's analogy was to that of a worker. When a man works, his pay isn't a gift but is something given to him out of obligation. This implies that if salvation was based upon our works, God technically owes us salvation for what we have done. Paul also cited King David - quoting Psalms on man's depravity and God's redemption.

This next part stood out to me even though I still don't fully understand what Paul wrote here. He talked about God's promise to Abraham - that Abraham's offspring would be the heirs to the world. The promise could not be fulfilled by the law - men fail and deserve God's wrath - but rather it was a thing of faith. God fulfilled His promise and Abraham had faith that God would do so. Paul then discussed the magnitude of Abraham's faith. Despite God's promise, Abraham grew old as did his wife Sarah. Instead of worrying (As Pastor Robin put it - worrying is practically atheism in that it denies the love, power, and wisdom of God), Abraham's faith INCREASED. How crazy is that?! When faced with hardships, Abraham's faith did not decrease like mine does when I face trials (God where are you now? God will you really deliver me from this? God, how can any good come out of this..?) but INCREASES. He did not waver but grew. I am both encouraged and humbled by reading this.

Here's what I'm taking away from this passage
1) God cares more about my faith in Him than what I am doing. My works, even in the context of the church, do not justify me before God. This is a trap that I often fall into having served constantly at church over the past six years. I am justified by faith and faith alone. I think it may be time to take a step back and stop substituting time spent with the King for time spent serving the King. (I need to treasure God's word more and spend more time in prayer.)

2) My faith is weak. I look at a man like Abraham and am at awe in his faith in God. God, help me increase me faith.