Well, we are here...we have finished Romans.  This last chapter is a lot of greetings and fair-wells, except that Paul provides one more encouragement to avoid the divisive talk that stands as a great reminder for us as well today. He states that the root of this divisive of teaching is really self edification rather than that of God. And I think that prompts a great diagnostic question to keep in mind, a question of whether or not what I doing is for my own benefit or for the greater purposes of God.

Romans is a little tougher to read than a lot of New Testament manuscripts...it is a little weightier, meatier, ...deep.  But, I think we’ve made our way through it catching the big ideas.  Paul started by guiding us through a lot of theological thoughts, explaining the gospel message, breaking down some common objections, addressing some common pitfalls in the church and that many of us face individually.  Then, as he often does, he turned to some practical application ideas in the back half of the letter.

The big impression I get from Romans is the interconnected nature of Jesus’ work and life and message with that of God’s entire plan...reading through here, I just get the sense that things really have been woven together amazingly well.  And, I love how Paul addresses common objections to faith, as I am one that loves a lot of the evangelical/apologetic type material anyways.  But, I think my biggest takeaway from Romans really comes back to what Paul is teaching in the last few chapters we read together, that pretty much all of the teaching and instruction could be summed up simply as - love God and love your neighbor.  That’s it.  It really is that simple...that isn’t EASY, but that certainly is SIMPLE to understand.  It is amazing how we can see this message repeated throughout the New Testament scriptures, by various authors, and in various forms...it is the common theme for sure.  This weekend, I am going to continue in that exercise I started yesterday, journaling about each family member and close friend, and asking what they are needing right now, and going about trying to be there for them...that is the essence of loving my neighbor.