At the beginning of last week, I knew I wanted to write a blog, but I was feeling very uninspired.

So, instead of sitting down to write a “blog,” I sat down to simply write. I just wanted to be able to put my thoughts on paper as I have been reading Romans. A few times this week I sat down to do this and, little by little, I had a few entries about Romans written. 

Romans 8-10 lays out pretty clearly the map of salvation. I was talking to my mom about all the thoughts racing through my head about my blog, and she said what a perfect time to be reading about salvation as Easter approaches. 

How sweet is that. In my own doubt and uncertainty, Father made it easier for me. He said “don’t write a blog, sit down and write what I’m showing you in my Word every morning, and I’ll craft it for you.”

Romans 8 is amazing. The title of it in The Message is “The Solution is Life on God’s Terms.”

I really like reading it in the ESV and then reading it in The Message. The Message is almost like my translation book. It makes the words come alive for me. 

Romans 8 shows Father as powerful yet personal. 

Paul, the writer of Romans, talks about the power with which God operates. God wasn’t messing around with sin or the enemy. You went for the fatal blow that killed the power of sin forever. Verse 3 says “you went for the jugular when you sent Jesus.” 

Paul also talks about God’s nearness when he sent Jesus to this earth. Verses 3 and 4 say, “He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all.” 

You are a God of such power which, if I’m being honest, freaks me out sometimes. I can’t wrap my head around it. I do believe that it’s ok to not understand all of You. I think you designed it that way. How can a human mind comprehend a God that raised his son from the dead? They can’t. That is the beautiful mystery of who You are. 

You are also a God of such nearness. You long to be in the front row seat of our lives, better yet in the driver’s seat of our lives. How do I know this? You gave up your own son for me. Just so we could be in communion with each other on earth and live forever together in heaven. It blows me away. 

As I read chapter 9, I was kind of confused. It talked about how necessary grace is for our salvation. It’s not just important for the long term salvation that we will one day experience, but it’s important for the day to day salvations we need. It’s important for the daily battle we face every time we choose to put our feet on the ground when we wake up. 

Chapter 10 is really amazing as well. The Message said that “salvation is calling out to God and trusting him to do it.” 

That is so simple, right? How hard is that to ask someone for help and trust them to do what they say they are going to do? Actually that is very hard. Just because it is simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.

The devotional along with this chapter says that “there is nothing complicated about what needs to be said or done, but it’s not easy. It involves a lifelong struggle to trust and obey.”

It’s a battle like I mentioned before, but it’s worth it. It changes everything when God runs your life, when you trust God to run your life. It doesn’t make the struggle go away, but it welcomes His strength to battle it. It welcomes God to do the work. 

In all of these three chapters, the ONLY thing required of us is to embrace wholeheartedly what God has already done and what he continues to do. 

This goes so perfectly with Easter weekend. Jesus beat sin and is drawing us to him with this Easter story. God is near and more present than ever. He is also working with the same power now that raised Jesus from the grave even when we can’t see it.

 Father God, I thank you for the incredible gift of life you give. Thank you for sending Jesus to take on humanness and live life perfectly because you knew that I couldn’t. The price of sin is death, but you took care of it. I don’t have to live in fear, I can live with a freedom that only comes from you. Thank you for loving me so much. Thank you that even now in the midst of crazy, you are present and working. Even though this Easter looks different, I pray that in the quiet you would speak and remind us all “the solution [is still] life on God’s terms.” In Jesus name, Amen.