Day 16: Romans 15
We are nearly at the end of our devotions in Romans and I have loved going deeper in this book. I hope you have too.
For today we are looking at chapter 15. Why not pause now and read it before you continue.
There are many great verses and gold in this chapter that you can explore, but today I am focusing on just verse 4.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
At first this verse didn’t stand out to me. I just skimmed past it but when I read it again I couldn’t get it out of my head and it kept coming back to me.
It is saying that the more we know about God and the knowledge we have of him, the more it will affect our attitude towards the present and the future. WOW!
I don’t know about you but I can easily forget and allow other thoughts to take focus in my mind. The other day Dan and I were looking through old photos of our holiday in France and it immediately brought me back, it reminded me of what a good holiday we had and all the lovely memories we made.
Sometimes I think this is the same with God’s faithfulness and goodness in our lives and remembering the scriptures. Often we need to be reminded of the scriptures and what he has already done, before other thoughts or situations take precedent in our minds!
The more that we know about God’s goodness and the more we have experienced his faithfulness the greater our confidence will be for going into the future and for the days ahead.
We are in a season at the moment that isn’t at all certain. In this time we don’t know what the future will look like, we aren’t sure when lockdown will be over or even what life will look like when we come out the other end. You might be feeling anxious or nervous.
There are so many things we don’t know, but there are some things that we do know. We know that God is faithful and God is good! We know this from his word and our experience of what he has done before. This can give us hope as we go forwards.
One thing that can help us go forward and help with these fears or anxious thoughts is knowing God. Like I said before the more we know of Him the more it can help our attitude towards the present and the future.
Ps Hannah Hoyle
Bishop Auckland Campus Pastor