Today’s scripture: Romans 15:14-21 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (David Zier):
I remember when I was a teenager in college watching a television preacher who was “healing” people on the stage of a large auditorium. The man he was healing indicated he could not walk on his own, and the preacher went on and on about how the man has not been able to walk on his own for a long time. When the preacher put his hands on the man’s forehead and tried to push him back, he did not fall straight back, but wobbled, and fell to his knees. Then the preacher took the man’s walker, tossed it off the stage and asked the man to get up and walk. The man could not, and he tried to balance himself to stand and fell over. The preacher’s response, “God don’t heal drunks.” I was stunned! (He did not look drunk to me, and why did the preacher go on and on about this man?)
Watching that event really changed me and my perceptions of television evangelists. As I read today’s passage, I wondered what Paul would have thought about that event, especially as I read verse 18-19:
For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ.
How did this television evangelist proclaim the good news of Christ? What was the power of that sign and wonder the he performed? The words he conveyed were out of line with the deeds he was trying to perform. Since when do we proclaim who God can heal or not, and who gets to receive the good news or not, especially in an event like the one I was witnessing.
Paul is telling us in this passage that it is about our words and deeds. If someone speaks words, but they do not follow it with their actions, how does that convey Jesus’ message? The same is true when one has good deeds, but the words spoken are not edifying. How is that good news?
Thought for the day: What do your words and deeds convey about the good news of Jesus?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.