In Romans we receive a lot of good advice from Paul. He tells the saints, which is what he often called the members of the church, what they need to know. One important thing that he tells them is that salvation is nearer than we may think (Romans 13:11). So if it's so close how do we attain it? The answer sounds simple: we must continue in righteousness. However, when we read Ezekiel 3:20 this sounds much less simple and even more necessary. Ezekiel tells us that as soon as we turn from righteousness we begin to doom ourselves. If we turn away and then unexpectedly die our righteousness will not be remembered, it is what we have become that counts, not what we used to be. However, if we endure to the end we will have eternal life. Thus, it is important to endure to the end. The going will get tough, but we must keep going!
In Romans 12-13 Paul gives us a list of things that will help lead us to salvation. Here is what I found:
12:1 Present our bodies as a living sacrifice (dedicate our lives to Him)
12:2 Don't conform to the world
12:9 Love sincerely. Abhor evil and cling to good.
12:13 Give to the saints in need
12:16 Be equal to all. Be humble.
12:21 Overcome evil with good
13:1 Be subject to the power of God
13:3 Do that which is good
13:8 Love one another
13:9 Love thy neighbor as thyself. Keep the commandments
This list isn't long, but it has plenty to work on. Each one is a matter of becoming something and will not happen in a day. So I believe that Paul has provided us with a list that will keep us busy for quite some time.
That is not the end of Paul's advice in Romans though. In chapter 14 he instructs to some length about judging. It seems as if his first instruction is to not judge someone that isn't under your own jurisdiction. This means that we cannot decide someone's salvation if we have not been given that power so we shouldn't judge them in this matter at all. Christ is our judge and if we judge someone and by doing so give them a stumbling block then we have overstepped our judging boundaries. So we must always be careful in judgement that we are not tearing someone down. We shouldn't worry so much about how "Joe" looks before the judgement bar because we will all stand before God and account for what we have done and Christ will be our judge. He will judge righteously and with all knowledge, which is one thing that we lack for one another. We don't know everything about a person's circumstances. We cannot judge what we do not know. In Doctrine and Covenants 38:25-27 we learn that we must become one. We cannot become one if we are constantly thinking of each other as better or worse than another. We must not do this, but only build each other up. If you see something that should be fixed you help try and fix it. Don't think you are better than the problem and would have never had the problem yourself, give a hand to try and fix the problem with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. If we can do this then we will be on our way to becoming one without making improper judgements.
No comments:
Post a Comment