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Pastor's Blog September 16, 2021

"View of God in Romans XXVIII"

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Did you know God reveals what he thinks of you and your purpose through your very existence?  Paul states in Romans 14:6-8, "He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.  For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's" (NASB). 

This passage has often baffled Christians, and its odd references to "the day" have occasionally made Adventists leery that Paul is diminishing the Sabbath.  Without going into too much detail here, I believe Paul predominantly has in mind the annual or new moon feast days that populated the Jewish religious calendar when he refers to observing or not observing a certain day.  And his reference to eating or not eating is referring back to verses 3-4 and our discussion last week about early Christians questioning whether or not they could eat meat that had been dedicated to an idol. 

But the question of which day to observe and which food to eat is not the most important thing to Paul in this passage.  The apostle is emphatic in verse 7: "Not one of us lives for himself, and not one of us dies for himself."  Paul is concerned with talking about who you're living for - and he makes it clear that the believer, in everything he or she does, lives for God rather than for him or herself.  Paul doesn't suggest that we should live for God, he states that we already do! 

But why can Paul say this?  Because in verse 8 he states, "Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."  As Paul goes on to explain in this verse, the very fact that we live or die means that God has designed that we live or die FOR HIM!  Whether we like it or not, God has made sure that our lives and our deaths revolve around him - that our lives and deaths are concerned with God.  And the reason God does this is because we belong to him.  God shows us that he is good and kind by binding our living and dying to the fact that we are his beloved possessions. 

Friends, be encouraged by the fact that God considers you to be entirely his own.