Romans 10:11-13 "The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Today's episode reminds us that God wants to save all of His children, not just those of a certain religion, race, sex, color, or age. It also reminds us not to let man-made rules or traditions get in the way of the commandments that were given to us straight from God. It ends by reminding us to Love God. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Unity
Romans 10:11-13 "The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
When I read this verse this morning, I knew it was the one I should talk about. It talks about something very important that I think we forget about a lot. This verse shows us that the Lord does not get caught up in race or religion. It says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It says everyone, not just some. This was a letter written to the Romans in the early church. Back in the day, Jews definitely thought that the Savior was coming to save them. Even those who were followers of Jesus were stunned when He was ministering to everyone and when He would talk to anyone.
Do you remember the woman at the well? Jesus made it a point to talk to her even though Jews and Samaritans were not allowed to talk, and men certainly weren’t supposed to talk to women they did not know. When Jesus came, it seemed like He turned everything upside down. He showed the apostles and the world that there was a new way of living. He wanted them to know they were no longer governed by a whole long list of rules. Now, they were governed by the Holy Spirit. If they weren’t sure what they should or should not do, they could consult the Holy Spirit, and He would lead them in the right direction. He would remind them of all that Jesus said and did while He walked on Earth.
The same is true for us. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and He will guide us to doing what is right, and He will convict us when we are doing something wrong. The only problem with this is that we need to listen to Him, and sometimes we don’t want to. We all have that still small voice inside of us that tells us when we should do something or when something doesn’t feel right. Yet, we don’t always listen to it because sometimes we don’t want to do what we know we should do, and sometimes we want to do something we know we shouldn’t do.
Before the Holy Spirit came down to live in them, the Jewish people were bound by a large number of commandments. When I looked it up online, it said 613 commandments, but then it said there is no universally agreed-upon number. It doesn’t matter how many, you get the idea that it was a lot of commandments that they were responsible for upholding. However, when Christ came, He said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus was showing his apostles that things had changed. It seemed like He was showing them that it wasn’t as important to focus on all the little things but more on the big things. It seems like Jesus was making it easier for people to understand what is important.
For instance, in Matthew 15, the phrases and scribes came to Jesus and asked why the apostles broke the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands before eating, and Jesus asked them why they broke the commandment of the Lord to honor thy mother and father. Here, Jesus is pointing out that the commandments were given to us by the Lord. None of our laws or our traditions should go against what the Lord has told us in those commandments.
Going back to today’s verse, "The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This reminds us that Jesus didn’t just come to save one group of people. He didn’t just come to save the Jews. I think in our day and age, we can also extend this to He didn’t just come to save the Catholics, the Jews, and the Protestants. I think we can get caught up in the differences of our religion and forget all that we have in common. God wants all of His children saved. That means, no matter your race, religion, age, sex, God wants you to know and believe about Him.
Do you believe in God? Do you call upon Him? It says right here in this verse that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I have had many discussions with many people about whether we know that we are going to heaven. This verse seems to say that if you believe in God and you call upon Him, then you will not be put to shame. There are more verses like this in the Bible. There are also verses that say you are not saved on faith alone, but faith with works. This does not imply that you have to earn your way into heaven. It is saying that you can’t just believe in the Lord and ignore all those around you, like the poor and needy. It is dangerous when we take verses on their own and don’t read them in the context of the whole Bible.
I truly believe that none of us knows who is and is not getting into heaven because we do not know what is inside anyone else’s heart. We also might not know what is in our own hearts. For instance, do we have unforgiveness hiding in our hearts and masquerading as something else? Only God knows our hearts, and that is why He is the only one who gets to judge us.
I remember I was talking about this with a friend of mine from Encounter one day, and she said she was having the same conversation with the Lord. I can’t remember if she was asking the Lord if she would get to go to heaven, or maybe she was asking about a loved one. I don’t remember what exactly she was asking, but the Lord told her she was asking the wrong question. The question shouldn’t be, will I get into heaven one day? The question should be, am I loving God? What a great question for each of us to ask ourselves today and every day. Am I loving God today? Are my actions and words showing me loving God today? Is the way I am treating others showing God that I am loving Him today? What can I do today to show God how much I love Him?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening. Lord, help us to take our focus off of the laws and put our focus on you. Help us keep our eyes on you this upcoming year. When we look away help us to turn back to you a lot quicker this year. Lord, help us to listen to the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit you have given us to us. He will guide us if we let Him. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Some of you have been with me since the beginning, and I am so grateful. No matter when you started listening, I am grateful that you have made me a part of your day, and I pray the Lord blesses you in this upcoming year. I also want to invite each of you to join my mentoring group. We meet on Tuesday night on Zoom. You do not have to have your camera on if you do not want to, and you do not have to talk if you do not want to. Also, if you can’t be there Tuesday nights on Zoom, you can always watch the recording. January’s theme is Identity. It is going to be a great month, and you won’t want to miss it! I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day.
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in June 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My Holy Spirit is bringing you my peace. The peace of the Father, and the peace that only we can give you. Open your hearts to that peace, my children. It is a peace that you do not understand but a peace that your God gladly gives you and wishes to bring into your hearts right now.”