The Salvation of God
Salvation begins with God. It is His to give away, and we can't have it unless He decides to give it to us. Once Paul got to Rome and reasoned with the Jews for a while, he made a very significant announcement.(Acts 28:28) "The salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it." Jesus made it clear during His time on earth that God was addressing the message of salvation to the Jews first. Then, Paul began with the same message.(Romans 1:16) However, after sharing the gospel with the Jewish people thoroughly, a transition was made to take the salvation of God to the Gentiles, all the people groups of the world. Jews can still be saved, but it means they had their time to hear first, but most of them rejected Christ because of the hardness of their hearts.(Acts 28:26,27) Now, God's desire is to broadcast His salvation to all peoples everywhere, including the Jewish people.
I believe there is a spiritual principle here. We must have discernment about sharing the gospel. Once we have thoroughly shared the truth with another person, and they have had ample time to understand and to put their trust in Christ, we need to move on to other people. Just because we have a special place in our hearts for them, like God has a special place in His heart for the Jewish people, we can't decide to concentrate on them to the exclusion of others who need the salvation of God just as much. We never give up on the ones we love, and the ones who are special to us, but we can't neglect others because of them. Remember, salvation only comes from God by trusting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, since He came to die for your sins and to rise again to prove who He is. Everyone has to hear that Good News before they can trust Christ, and we are the ones sent out with the message of the Gospel. We must not neglect anyone.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Romans 2-4.
I believe there is a spiritual principle here. We must have discernment about sharing the gospel. Once we have thoroughly shared the truth with another person, and they have had ample time to understand and to put their trust in Christ, we need to move on to other people. Just because we have a special place in our hearts for them, like God has a special place in His heart for the Jewish people, we can't decide to concentrate on them to the exclusion of others who need the salvation of God just as much. We never give up on the ones we love, and the ones who are special to us, but we can't neglect others because of them. Remember, salvation only comes from God by trusting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, since He came to die for your sins and to rise again to prove who He is. Everyone has to hear that Good News before they can trust Christ, and we are the ones sent out with the message of the Gospel. We must not neglect anyone.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Romans 2-4.