Romans 10:8-13: The Direction Setter

But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” - Romans 10:8-13

 The word of God needs to be in two places in order to be effective: in your heart (because that is the center of your will) and in your mount (because that is how you project yourself in social situations). Is Jesus going to be Lord of both.

What does it mean to have Jesus as Lord? Well, it means that what we do is in line with what he wants. We have to internalize his style so that when we do things, it looks like what Jesus would do in the same space. We don't hear from Jesus all the time, but he has left plenty of sample interactions with people to teach us how we should do it. 

There can be a temptation to duplicate his results without duplicating his heart, and that works well for a while in well-defined situation. But life has a way of throwing curve balls at us and "duplicate" answers won't work because they need the creativity of the spirit of God to find new ways to hit that curve ball. Otherwise we are applying old stereotypical Christian solutions to new problems and new situations and that just looks stale.

If we don't control our mouths under Jesus' control, then we are poor representatives of him. Beyond his genius, Jesus' always had words that comforted and challenged those who were with him. That required connecting his mouth with his heart and required that both were integrated with the Father's will. No easy task, but definitely something that I can try to get to by thinking carefully about what I am thinking and the words that arise from that thinking. 

O Lord, set the direction for my heart and my mouth.

Romans 10:5-15: In Shouting Distance of the Gospel

Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? 

“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” - Romans 10:5-15

Growing up, I guess I was always within shouting distance of the gospel. My mom didn't really care to go to church when I was growing up. She would allow us to go with friends or a neighbor and we went with my grandma and grandpa when we stayed at their house during the summer.  She didn't stop us but she didn't go herself or take us. 

So I heard about God, about Jesus and flannel-graph versions of all of the Bible stories. Yet there was enough in those years to convince me that I needed saving. I was having trouble being good. I still have trouble being good. I didn't really understand why I wasn't acting the way I wanted to, but I did understand at age 6 that Jesus could do something about it. 

"The same Lord is the Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him." I did. Even the limited amount I learned from age 6 was enough to point me in a different direction. I was still a strange kid who exasperated his mom and his teachers. I was still a kid who tried to be helpful, cried over his failures, fought with his brother and lied to his mom-all wrapped in one paradoxical package.

But it started because someone told me. I don't think I want to forcibly insert God into my conversations, but neither will I forcibly remove him. He is important enough that he will show up in my conversations, if I am honest about who he is to me. 

'Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.'  Some people have an advantage because they live where the word of God is close at hand, heard in off-hand comments and read in hotel room Bibles. But there are those for whom the road to God is longer-smuggled Bibles, hushed conversations, dreams from God-as Paul says, 'How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?' 

The path to God is never a straight line.