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Pastor's Blog August 5, 2021
"View of God in Romans XXII"
{Scroll over scripture reference to read the scripture or reference.
Did you know that God has given everyone faith? It's true! In Romans 12:3, Paul says this: "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith" (NASB).
Notice the four moves Paul makes in this passage: 1) grace is the source of Paul's message, so what he is saying to us is another form of God's grace to us; 2) what he is saying is that we shouldn't think higher of ourselves than is appropriate - in short, we shouldn't be vainglorious, arrogant, and self-boastful; 3) we should, instead, have sound judgment; 4) the source of our practice of sound judgment is faith - which is something God has given to each of us.
What Paul is basically saying is that sound judgment is the opposite of haughtiness, and grace is the source of that sound judgment while faith is the source of our practice of sound judgment. But do you see how Paul talks about the nature of faith? "God has allotted to each a measure of faith." This is good news and bad news, depending on your situation. For those who worry that they don't have enough faith or any faith at all, Paul claims, "God has allotted to each [person] a measure of faith." You already have faith - a faith that is given to you by God! And for those who maintain they're not answerable to God because they don't have any faith in him, Paul claims, "God has allotted to each [person] a measure of faith." Even atheists have faith - a faith God has already given to them, but which they simply do not yet know.
Everyone has faith, because God has already given every person this gift! But what does this show us about God? It shows us that God is interested in coming close to all of us so that he can build a relationship with us. God has given us everything we need to relate to him, which shows us that God is good AND unpretentious in how he deals with us. And that is a very comforting truth, friends..
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
