Romans 1:17 – Walking in His Promises
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For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
According to the study portion in my bible (the NKJV) this verse references the following:
“From faith to faith means faith is at the beginning of the salvation process, and it is the goal as well. When a person first exercises faith in Christ, that person is saved from the penalty of sin and declared righteous. As the believer lives by faith, God continues to save him or her from the power of sin to live righteously.”
– The Nelson Study Bible, New King James Version
When I read this it seems so simple. If I consider myself a righteous person I must live by faith, right? What I find time and time again when my back is up against the wall is that my lack of faith shows.
I chose this verse a few weeks ago not realizing I was heading into the study of Romans in my regular Bible reading. The book of Romans was written by the apostle Paul and for me, I love when the apostle Paul speaks because I can relate to him so well. I feel like when Paul speaks it is so direct and easy to comprehend.
I guess before I dive in more I should probably introduce myself. My name is Mundo and my wife Amanda and I are the owners of Promise Chocolates. I consider myself a blue collar guy, a layman, just a regular Joe, who God has a hold on. My appreciation to God runs deep because he has forgiven a person like me. Someone who was so deeply rooted in sin with no direction in life. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us I was given another chance to do what we were called to do (spread the Gospel).
When we started the idea of Promise Chocolates it was really about one thing, getting promises from the Bible (God’s word) into the hands of people. The chocolate is a delivery system. It was pretty much as simple as that. We have owned other businesses through the years but this time it was different. We wanted to do something with God and for God. There were many challenges surrounding the concept of Promise Chocolates. It would have been much easier to open up a convenience store and start selling products.
Now to the promise. “From first to last,” God declares us to be right with him because of faith and faith alone. Faith has many meanings but for this illustration I’m going to reference the meaning of absolute trust or confident hope. By trusting God our relationship with Him is made right. Usually when I start out on a task for God I’m full of momentum and faith. Then the journey gets rocky and starts to take too long (in my opinion) and that’s when my faith is really tested. I start to question myself asking if I really heard this from the Lord, or did I have selfish motives somewhere along the way? Is this what God wants, or is this what I want? I really want to do God’s will, but am I up to the task?
Working for God is hard when it doesn’t seem like it’s bearing fruit or you can’t see the endgame. During this journey called Promise Chocolates my faith has been tested over and over. Most of the time it was hard to see the game plan but I know God wanted us to do this. It has not gone like I thought or wanted it to go, but that’s where faith comes into play. I must live my entire life by faith and faith alone because who knows what will happen tomorrow. Who saw this coronavirus completely changing our way of life overnight? I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I know my Lord is with me and he wants the best for me. That’s why we are called to live by faith. The Bible tells us that the gift of eternal salvation can only be received by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by our works. The Bible also tells us that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:10 tells us “no one is righteous not even one”. The gift of salvation is a free gift given to us by the Lord because of our faith in Jesus Christ. It is only after we accept this free gift that we are declared righteous.
Our prayers are with you and your family during this crazy time. If you are like me, we all really hope it ends soon so we can be together with our family and friends again. Who knew isolation sucked so much? It is our hope that through this series we can bring encouragement to our readers during this tough time and bring God’s message of hope to His people.
“I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.”
May grace and blessings be in your path,
Mundo
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