Paul carries on with his discourse about his fellow Israelites, who are on his heart and in his prayers. Since the Jewish people in his day were very religious, we can also think about religious people today. They might be very zealous or very devout, going regularly to a place of worship, following the rules of their respective faith – but without Christ they are utterly lost. Do you know anyone like that? Pray for them.

As we have seen already in Romans, there is only one way to be saved, and that is God’s way. The Apostle Paul makes it really clear in this chapter: only faith in Jesus Christ saves the Jew and the Gentile, the religious or pagan, the people with a believing background or those with no faith at all. Salvation itself has an inward and outward component: believing in our hearts that Jesus died for our sins and rose again and speaking it out by faith. This is reminiscent of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 10:32f, where he said: “...everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before my Father in heaven.”

However, no work is required on our part to be saved, i.e. to enter God’s Kingdom: Jesus has done all the work and my bit is to receive the gift of eternal life by believing that He achieved it for me. I have to acknowledge my own inability to save myself through good deeds or anything else and call on Jesus to save me. This is the same for all people all over the world (Acts 4:12). That’s why it’s so important for us to become aware that God has given us all ‘beautiful feet’ to go and tell others the Good News. There’s already a general revelation of God through His creation, but that is not enough to save people. They have to hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, so they in turn can call on His name to be saved.

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Question:

Are you making use of your beautiful feet?

Prayer:

Lord God, please forgive me where I haven’t used the beautiful feet you have given me to go and tell others the Good News so that they can be found and saved and healed. Please help me to make the most of the time you have given me and the opportunities set before me to tell people the reason for the hope that is within me. May the people I meet come to know you, so they in turn will make you known to their families, friends and acquaintances, in Jesus’ Name, Amen!