Daily Devotion – August 6, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Romans 10:11-15
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.”
But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?
And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
In this Romans passage there is a miracle, one that many Christians do not want to believe, one that even prevents some people from accepting Christianity as a religion.
Verse 11 says that no one who believes in the Lord will be put to shame. And later, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Paul is saying that, if you hear about the Lord and believe in this Lord, you will be saved. Period. God is so generous that you will be saved if you but call upon the name of the Lord. Good life, bad life, tiny private sins or great big fat ones. And many of us folk who really strive to be good our whole lives long can get hopping mad about this.
Why wouldn’t we? We have made sacrifices, given up stuff for Lent, been nice to our sister when she was mean to us, bore with horrible relatives because it was the right thing to do, given money to the church that we could have used for a great big toy… and then we find out that a person who didn’t do any of these things, and not only that, but who did some really terrible things, can be saved just by calling on the name of the Lord. It does not seem fair.
But why did we do all those things? Solely to be saved? Or because those things, in the long run, made life worth living, kept our relationships (also gifts from God) strong and thriving over the years, felt like what we were called to be doing?
And when some miserable sinner comes around to that way of thinking, and God, that sinner’s loving Creator, hears that miserable creature call out for the Lord, why wouldn’t God rejoice? God cannot even help it. That is the kind of God we have. Generous beyond human understanding. Many Christians don’t like this generosity of God, doled out to sinners. But what we would prefer has no effect on who God is. We don’t have a choice about who God is. What we have is a choice about is whether we want to accept that generosity ourselves and rejoice.
Dear Lord, Thank you for your gifts. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for loving us. Help us not to begrudge your loving others just as much. Please remind us that you are God and we are not. And that it’s better that way. Amen.
