Stronger faith

Romans 4:20b He grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.

 It seems so elementary in some ways, yet I still see this principle as important enough in my own life to bear repeating for my own benefit once again: My faith will grow stronger every time I use it.  In this verse the Apostle Paul was speaking about the trial of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, and how Abraham’s exercise of blind faith was a key element in his spiritual development.  His faith became strong because of that experience and I want my faith to grow stronger.  Although I do not know what God will allow in my life in the future to accomplish that, I can see ways in which that has already happened in my life experiences, events that have been difficult but through which I continued to give glory to God and saw the result of stronger faith.  I hope and pray that I will always live out this important spiritual principle.

God's kindness

Romans 2:4b God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

Why is God good to us?  Why do we have so many blessings from Him?  The Bible is full of reminders of God’s love, faithfulness, mercy and goodness toward mankind.  We know He loves us even when we do not love Him.  We know that His mercy is new every morning.  We know that His faithfulness is to every generation, but why?  Why does He extend all of this to ungrateful, unloving people?  This verse in Romans 2 tells us why.  All of God’s kindness is for only one reason … to lead us to repentance.  Through the salvation that comes out of true repentance, God can have the relationship with us that He created us for.  His kindness is meant to lead us back to full fellowship with Him.