Monday, January 18, 2010

The Romans Road

When I was a young girl, I faithfully boarded the church bus every Sunday to travel to a church that was approximately an hour away. To keep us entertained (as well as to teach us) the wife of our bus driver would often play games with us, such as "Sword drill" The game where a caller would call out a scripture, then the first one to find it would jump up and read. One such Sunday, the group of scriptures she called out, she deemed was the "Romans Road" If we could memorize these scriptures, these would be the ones we would use to evangelize the world. These were the "How to's" of salvation.



Ironically, we came across some of those same verses in our Sunday School lesson yesterday. Amazing how some scripture takes on an entirely new meaning when reading the scriptures through New Covenant eyes, instead of through your preacher's glasses.
One such verse was Romans 10:13, "For all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved". This was an Old Testament quote from Joel 2. The beginning of Joel 2 sounds like something from The Lord of the Rings saga--a powerful army, not breaking rank, not wavering from their course, sounds like chariots, rides like horses--what is this? A huge swarm of locust. The stars don't shine for the locust blocks them. God says to turn to him and he'll have compassion. He wants His children to return. Afterwards, the locust army is through, then the great and terrible day of the sun was darkened, the moon, blood, but even through all of that, "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"
Wow. reading it in context paints an entirely different picture than merely a collection of verses to extend the gift of salvation to someone. I suppose, however, getting that deep into the studies would bring emotional trauma for a 9 year old. Something out science fiction. As I read Joel--I had the whole Lord of the Rings battle playing out in my mind. Deep.
Thankfully, we live on the 'after' side of the resurrection. The love of God is something we can trust. That compels me to trust in Him and just rest in His finished work. His love is the only love that I CAN trust. He's proven himself too many times to think otherwise..
and now my thoughts have turned elsewhere.
have a great weeks!

2 comments:

  1. Hey Amazing Grace...I have enjoyed your posts very much! Are you a preterist? It is interesting to me because you use "new covenant eyes" terminology. I would love to learn more about you and your journey...here is my email: ladyblade91ws@aol.com

    Blessings! Wanda

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  2. Hi Wanda! Sorry it took so long for me to respond. As you can see, I'm not very organized enough to post on here regularly.
    As far as being a preterist, I have no clue what that is..sorry! I do know, though, that I live in the New Covenant, after the resurrection of Jesus. Before God gave me a clue, I was trying to live in both worlds... needless to say, not very well! lol.
    Thanks for posting!
    Blessings!

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