DAY 227

FOR I AM PERSUADED

Psalm 89 & 90 and Romans 14

“For I am persuaded that you love is established forever…” Psalm 89:2a.

Persuaded is an interesting word; somehow – someway, God has persuaded the Psalmist that His Love is everlasting…it is as I have said before hesed. To know this deeply in your mind, your heart, indeed in your bones is, what Paul has been driving at throughout Romans. Do you remember some of those “gem verses:” Verses such as “nothing can separate us from the love of God.”

It is this foundational idea, the foundation of God’s Love with Jesus as the Cornerstone, which is the basis of all we have read in Romans. It is this confidence in God’s love that allows chapter 14 to shine. I have before used the image of mountain climbing. We are almost to the top, and I find this chapter as a bit of a resting plateau. We can look down at all we have scaled, we can look up at the small bit that is left, and we can stand on this plateau, and with Paul say with great confidence that some of our behaviors are irrelevant when compared to our relationships with other followers of Jesus.

Chapter 14 is all about relationship. Paul writes,” I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself…” Another persuaded person and it is his persuasion, his confidence that tells others not to worry about “rituals” if those rituals will cause another to stumble. What is important is living in a way that communicates real confidence in God’s Everlasting Love found in Jesus Christ.

It actually is that simple, today’s reading is more than a bit of a rest, we are near the summit of all that Paul is driving at…full confidence in God.