November 10 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Romans 1:

¹Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
²(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
³Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
⁴And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
⁵By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
⁶Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
⁷To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
⁹For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
¹⁰Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
¹²That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
¹³Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
¹⁴I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
¹⁵So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
¹⁷For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
¹⁹Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
²⁰For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
²¹Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
²³And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
²⁴Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
²⁵Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
²⁶For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
²⁷And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
²⁸And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
²⁹Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
³⁰Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
³¹Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
³²Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Devotional:

In order to understand our child and his need for discipline we must understand the nature of man. We must understand what it means that he is born in sin. Then we must see how sin progressively masters a man. A man does not remain on a plateau from birth to death, nor is there an evolution of his moral character. The normal course of a man is that of decline.

Romans 1 is the classic section of Scripture to point this out. We read here about God's revelation to man and man's persistent refusal to recognize it. We see how 'God gave them over in the sinful desires of their heart to sexual impurity' (1:24 NIV). We see again that 'God gave them over to shameful lusts' (1:26 NIV). And finally 'He gave them over to a depraved mind' (1:28 NIV). Downward, downward, downward!

Does our experience substantiate this? It most surely does. Today we tell a 'white lie.' Tomorrow it will be easier to tell a more substantial one. In fact, it may appear necessary to tell several to cover up the first. How well it has been said:

O, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practise to deceive.*

But it is really more than this. When God is rebuffed repeatedly, when, in the face of overwhelming evidence of the existence of His love and demands, a person keeps saying 'No' to Him, it is as though God replies, 'All right, go your own way. In My common grace I have been granting you some ability to live a moral life and to enjoy the world and the people I have made, but since you fail to acknowledge Me and be thankful, I will take My hands off you. You will be left to yourself!'

If, however, a man turns to Christ, his life is redirected. Sometimes he may slip. Nevertheless, slowly but surely he proceeds to go upward in his walk. God teaches, helps, chastises, lovingly and faithfully taking His child by the hand and drawing him upward, upward, upward.

This we need to have firmly in mind in order to discipline our child intelligently from the earliest days. Our training has to be rigorous in order to combat the downward pull of sin! The way of salvation has to be set clearly before him, that his course may be changed!

We rejoice in the love and patience of our God to draw the recalcitrant to Himself. This love and patience we see in His dealings with believers, too, as He draws us up toward the place He has prepared for us. He would have us to be like Him and He will accomplish this transformation fully one day when we are brought face to face with our Saviour.

* Sir Walter Scott: Marmion, Canto vi, 17.