Day 14 – Romans 3:13-20 – September 13, 2018

christian devotional

christian devotional

Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.  The poison of vipers is on their lips.  Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their paths, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.  Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.  Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather through the law we become conscious of our sin.  (Romans 3:13-20)

No one will be declared righteous by God for keeping the law, because no human being is capable of keeping it.  God knew that mankind could not keep the Law when He gave it to Moses, but He gave us the Law to reveal 3 things: to know what sin is and to become conscious of it, to make us accountable, and most of all to make us know that we need God to make us holy.  This passage covers our speech from our throats where sound comes from, to our tongues where words are formed, through our lips, where the words leave our mouths and can’t be taken back.  Matthew 12:34b states, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Today’s passage also says three things about our feet: 1) they are swift to shed blood.  Proverbs 1:16 and Isaiah 59:7 say it a little better:  Their feet rush into evil and sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood.  2) Ruin and misery mark their paths.  3) The way of peace they do not know.  We are always in a rush.  The enemy counts on that so, without thinking, we let him lead us down the path of evil, leading us to ruin and misery.  The other path, God’s path, leads to peace. Look at the picture on my home page of the man standing at the fork in the road.  I hope that is you and me being thoughtful and praying, consulting God, so we take the path that leads to peace so that our hearts can be full of love and so that our mouths will encourage.  If you’re reading this (I pray for all my readers.), then I am praying for you.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (Romans 3:21) We have learned to love, not by the Law, but through Jesus. Outwardly we remain the same, but on the inside God has given us the power of a new life, the life of Jesus himself, in the Holy Spirit. We are all looking for self-worth.  What people spend their whole life working for, righteousness, is simply given to us when we believe in Jesus. Paul first says that righteousness is apart from the Law because no one can measure up to God’s standards.  The Law testifies that we cannot keep it because it provided a systems of offerings and sacrifices which pictured the death of Jesus (through sacrifices) and the intervention of the High Priest (which Jesus is for us now), and the Prophets told of the coming of Jesus

Day 14 – Romans 3:13-20 – September 13, 2018

4 thoughts on “Day 14 – Romans 3:13-20 – September 13, 2018

  1. As I struggle with a personal issue I wonder if becoming conscience of your sins “just happens”! Wondering if I could have handled things differently or better. If my tongue practiced deceit.

    1. Dear Pam, Try not to struggle too hard with your personal issue. God many times convicts us of our sins; the only sin we are condemned of is unbelief in Jesus Christ. John 3:17: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” God gives us the gift of righteousness when we repent of our sins. If you told the person whom your tongue practiced deceit with that you are sorry and you told God that you are sorry, your words have been forgiven, and God wants you to forgive yourself also. That is all you can do. Of course in the future, you can try to do things differently. James gives us good advice: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the kind of righteousness that God desires.”

      Pam, don’t spend any more time thinking about what you could have done better in the past. Go on loving those around you, your family and your neighbors. That is what God wants you to do — spread His love! Always when we spend time loving those around us, we are not sinning.

    1. You’re welcome, dear sister. I know that you are on Day 14 but feel free to skip ahead to today’s post (Day 33). I had you in mind when I wrote it. For the rest of my dear brothers and sisters in Christ Day 33 will apply to you, too, if you are feeling burdened today! I love you!

Leave a Reply to Jody Armstrong Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to top

Subscribe to my Devotionals

If you would like regular updates of our daily devotional Bible study sent to your email, please subscribe here.
Loading