Daily Devotion for Thursday, March 1, 2012

Scripture Reading for Today: Romans 3:21-31


Key verse for today: Romans 3:28b "We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart from what is accomplished under the Law."

Photo by Anissa Thompson, Carson, CA

In high school, I had a teacher that wouldn't give any extra credit.  You either got it for the test or you did poorly.  There were no grey areas and I learned a lot in the class.  The tough lesson is when you come so close.  What about that 89%?  Is there any way to work harder to pull it up to an 'A'?


No, there is not.  


Another teacher would allow for extra credit.  Her assignments were not easy and you ended up learning more than if you had studied hard for the test in the first place.  But you could pull up your grade if you wanted to work.  I probably learned more in her class.


When you become goal oriented, it is so easy to believe that education is all about the grades.  But if the grades don't measure anything - if you do a great job of studying for the test and then promptly forget all you "learned" then do you really deserve an 'A' for the class?  Does that grade adequately represent your grasp of the material? 


I wonder if this is similar to what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Romans today.  If we follow the Law (all of the rules in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament), sometimes we can still get through without learning what we are supposed to learn. Jesus gives us the answers when he says it is all boiled down to love of God and love of neighbor.  But if the rules aren't producing love, we may need to retake the course.


As Christians, we are treated as righteous due to our relationship with the teacher (Jesus).  His love comes first.  What do we do with that?  There are some students that will just try to get by and take advantage but that is between them and their teacher.  I have plenty to worry about on my own plate.


And I still have a few things to learn.


Breath Prayer for today: Gracious God, grant me the faith to see.