After many hours in Romans 1 and 2 last week, I thought of some things that might help us represent Jesus better to a world that would be better off knowing him.
The first two points have to do with expressing a case for the existence of God. Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for all who believe,” and that “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.” I hope that you are talking about your faith with people who have no faith. They may believe in science and the big bang. Ask them what’s behind the big band, because as far as we know “nothing comes from nothing.” If there was a big bang, then we believe it was the result of God’s speaking the world into existence, and that God is the one who was, is and will be. God has no beginning. You can believe in the big bang as the cause of the universe or that God is the cause of the universe, or both. Although I’m interested in science and the big bang, I believe in God.
The second training point is to have some thoughts about how God’s hand is evident in the design of the world around us. If you and I took a walk deep into the woods and found a perfectly round, perfectly clear, 12-inch round glass sphere on the ground, we would both have the same question: “Who left this here?” Something as well made as that sphere points to a maker, and the simplest living thing is incredibly more complex than the sphere in the woods.
The third training point is the most important. We should daily seek an awareness that our personal sin, past, present and future, were paid for in blood by Jesus Christ. The training point is to set that in front of us day by day, so that we don’t go around judging others while ignoring our own sinfulness. Romans 2:1 says that we who judge others for all the wrong they do, do the same things. Keep that in front of you as you interact with a broken world.
