Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale Daily DevotionalSample

5-The Power of a Promise As we move into the third chapter of Romans, we need to remember where we've just come from. Paul has just shredded the argument that circumcision somehow makes a person an exception to the universal rule that all mankind is guilty before God. But now he makes an important counterpoint that those who were circumcised (the Jews) had been given something very special. The Jews were the recipients of "the oracles of God," which is another way of referring to the fact that God revealed His covenantal promises to them. Now, the next point Paul makes is very important. He brings up the fact that the Jews didn't trust the promises God had given to them. They actually rebelled against and rejected the greatest promise of all, their Messiah. So where does that leave things? Does their failure to believe God's Word mean God would choose to be unfaithful to His promise? Notice the answer: Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. (Romans 3:4 NKJV) Here's the point we need to note here: God's promises are more powerful than man's failure. Just because Israel failed, it doesn't mean God is going to follow suit and fail on His side of the equation. Just because man is a liar, it doesn't affect the fact that God is true. And He will remain true to His Word no matter how far we fall short of it. God's promises are powerful, more powerful than our failure. And it's this principle, that God is faithful amidst our unfaithfulness, which plays a pivotal role not just in the rest of the book of Romans, but also in the rest of our lives. There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. Romans 3:11 (NKJV) Like a succession of waves that continually lap at the shoreline, the human heart is constantly offering protest after protest: "I'm a good person-really!" No, we're not! And now, in Chapter 3 of Romans, Paul peels back the curtain to reveal just how rotten and wretched man is. We can summarize this in three statements. The first statement is this: When we think we're right, we're really wrong. That's the scenario posed by the Apostle in the fifth verse: "Well if my sin means God is glorified, then I'll just sin more!" That's an example of man thinking he's right about something when actually he's dead wrong. Sinning more isn't the right thing to do; it's something very wrong according to God's heart. Paul then points out that when we think we're good, we're really bad. Verses 10-12 tell us no one is righteous, that no one is good, that no one seeks after God, nor does the right thing on their own. But we resist that because our flesh doesn't like the light. It likes to hide in the darkness. And when we try to hide or portray ourselves as being good, it's all the more evidence of how bad we are! Lastly, when we think we're better, we're really worse. The rest of the chapter describes the tendency in us to compare ourselves to others and even go so far as to think we're better than them. We don't like to think of ourselves as being just as bad as the person next to us. But here's the kicker, when we do that, not only are we not better than others, but we're actually worse because our attitude is so far from what it should be (Philippians 2:3)! In Psalm 8:4, David asked the question, "What is man?" Paul answers the question for us here, and it isn't something to be proud of. But now he makes an important counterpoint that those who were circumcised (the Jews) had been given something very special. What does this passage reveal to me about God? What does this passage reveal to me about myself? Based on this, what changes do I need to make? What is my prayer for today?