Romans...

It spends three chapters revealing sin. Three chapters!! That's a lot of space to get to what a lot of us might perceive as a simple point. Why did he take so long? Because he had to package it in a way that it could be understood and accepted by his readers. Three chapters...I hardly ever take three minutes to sit down and get to the sin part. You did this... You suck... You need Jesus... You have a problem... (fill in the blank)...

He takes the time. He puts in the effort. He never condemns them, but simply allows God's law to speak on its own, but it doesn't end there...(chapter 3)..."but now"...a change of the wind, a change of thought, a change of direction...he spends time talking about Jesus. He spends time more specifically talking about Faith in Jesus...about redemption...

I don't think about redemption enough. I don't speak about redemption enough. I don't live out redemption enough...yet this is the central message of Jesus. This is what we need to get. Salvation by faith through God's grace (Jesus' death on the cross). I need to learn to accept this, not accept it in the way of come to terms with it, but actually receive it. For as much as we can receive for ourselves seems to be as much as we can give to others. When we receive the grace of God for ourselves in our own lives, our own sin, our own shame, guilt, or whatever, we can then give it to others for we have been given it in abundance.