By Rae Lynn DeAngelis
My husband and I are reading all the way through the Bible for the second year in a row. Today’s reading was from the book of Romans. One verse in particular stood out to me.
God’s Word is living and active. Perhaps you have noticed that we can read the same passage of scripture hundreds of times, and depending on what is going on in our lives at that time, God can speak something new and fresh to our spirit. That’s what happened to me this morning. A flow of memories filled my mind.
As I write this post, the sights, sounds, and scents of Christmas are thick in the air. Christmas lights frame homes and trees, holiday music hums familiar tunes on playlists, and gift-giving ideas scroll across social media feeds.
I have always loved this time of year. It’s magical. I especially love seeing Christmas through the eyes of children. Their curiosity and excitement remind me of my own wonderment fifty-plus years ago.
Many Christmas memories stand out as special. Our silver Christmas tree was my all-time favorite. It was simple with no ornaments on the branches, only an enchanting display of changing hues projected from a color-wheel. The silver tree transformed from red to green to yellow to blue. I would often lay beneath, looking up, while the Johnny Mathis Christmas album played in the background.
One year I received a Raggedy Ann doll for Christmas. It was bigger than me! I lugged it around everywhere, piggy back style. I think I was more enamored by the sheer size than the doll itself.
I also remember my parents taking us to the Christmas Eve midnight service. Afterwards, on the way home, my sister, brother, and I would search the night sky for Santa’s sleigh, hoping to get a glimpse of Rudolf’s red glowing nose. We didn’t question things back then; we just believed.
- As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. No wonder Jesus said, when it comes to faith, we must become like little children.
- “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).
- “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15).
- “I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17).
The verse that stood out to me afresh while reading the Bible was Romans 9:33: “As it is written: ‘See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Perhaps you are wondering: What is this rock, this stumbling block to which Paul (the author of Romans) was referring?
Paul was stressing a very basic yet difficult to comprehend biblical truth. Faith in Jesus is what saves us. Nothing else. We are only called to believe.
Friends, we are not saved by our works or striving. We are saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior on the cross.
So why is this concept so hard for us to grasp, to understand?
I wonder if it’s because, from the time we are young, we are told: If we want to get ahead in life we must work hard and do well. Success is up to us.
That may be how the world works. But it’s not how God works, at least not when it comes to salvation. The message of salvation is to put our faith and trust in Jesus. He already did the work for us. We need to trust God’s higher ways, ways that often look counter intuitive to the ways of the world.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Only through the saving work of Jesus on the cross is eternal life in heaven is accomplished. Only one thing is needed—faith. It’s so simple it takes the mind of a child to comprehend it.
No wonder Romans 9:33 calls it a stumbling block. We cannot earn it. We did nothing to deserve it. It’s a gift, pure and simple. JUST BELIEVE.
Father God, thank you for your Son, Jesus, the best gift ever.
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:4-10).
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