believe

This ia a letter by Paul, the apostle, written to the followers of Jesus who lived in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire.

Romans 1

16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.

It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes - the Jew first and also the Gentile.

17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight.

This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.

As the Scriptures say,

"It is through faith that a righteous person has life."

(Fyi – the reference that Paul makes to scripture is in the Old Testament; Habakkuk 2:4)

I think a possible stumbling block for some is that the whole basis of our connection with God through Jesus is based on simply believing.

Some people would say it's blind faith.

I don't think it blind – we have a lot of prophetic writings in the Old Testament, & eyewitness accounts in the New Testament.

Plus, we have the advantage of testimony from 2000+ years of people who have followed Jesus.

But simply believing is a problem for some.

It seems that some think there is more to it than that – that there has to be more that we have to be or do to eligible for connection with God.

Others it seems also think that the simplicity of the who “just believe” thing is a prime indicator that the whole thing isn't real.

And there's a whole lot of other modes of thinking that seem to indicate that “faith does it all” just can't be true.

All I can say is faith is who gets you on the bus.

God has presented us with a means of connecting to Him through & because of Jesus.

That's all there is to it.

That is the scandal of what God offers – if we believe what He says He did, we're in.

It shouldn't be that simple.

But it is.

So, even though we say we're not, how many of us are being & doing stuff so we can be sure God will accept us as His child?

It's not about what we can be or do that will get us in connection with God – it's by simply believing what God says He's provided is true.

It's NOT about what we are or do before or after we want a connection with Him – it's about believing in this scandalous gift He offers.

Have I beat this drum enough? ;-)

Embrace the gift He offers...

let's not try to be & do stuff so He'll accept us...

it doesn't work that way...

believe.