A friend called me today and said June, you should read Romans.  (We’ve had this conversation before and I knew exactly where she was going to take me – To Romans 1:26-27.)

I sighed and said, What do you want me to read?  and she said Romans 1:26 & 27.

She read from her Bible and she said now read from yours.  I said, “I’m getting so tired of this . . ” and she said ” just read it!”  So I read from mine and the message was the same.  And then I said – did you hear Verse 26?  And she said, how can you or anyone change what the Bible says – and I asked again – Did you hear verse 26?   What was or what is ‘this reason’  that is mentioned in the verse.  She talked about the rest of the verse and I again asked – “What is the reason?”  You can’t take Scripture out of context – in this kind of discussion or in any other kind of discussion – and there’s more after verse 27 as well that needs to be read.

She said – I have friends who are homosexual and lesbians and I said – I do to  (maybe more or less than I’m aware of because I really don’t get into discussions about what kind of sex life do you have?)  In any case – I told her I get tired sometimes of this whole topic because too many people take too many things out of context and too many people want to be judging other people when none of us have been given that job.  And then I read Romans 1:18 – 25 and Romans 28- 2:1.

And that pretty much puts all of us in our place in relationship to God in Christ Jesus.  And I told her – I get tired of being drawn into all these discussions because the message God has given me to proclaim is that we should Love God and Love One Another.   When we love God, we honor God, when we don’t love God, we don’t honor God.  When we love each other, we honor one another. When we don’t love each other, we don’t honor each other.  When we love ourselves, we honor ourselves. When we don’t love ourselves, we don’t honor ourselves. That is to say – When we Live in Love  we do not berate ourselves or other people or God, we do not condemn, we do not disrespect, we do not tear down, we do not lie to ourselves or other people or God, we do not destroy, the list goes on, doesn’t it?  All the way to not judging God, ourselves or each other.  We can use discernment but judgment belongs to God and without God’s love and mercy we all lose eternal salvation and peace in our hearts, minds and souls now.

And it seems to me that when we learn that Jesus Christ did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world from sin . . . then it would seem to me that everyone would want to know about their own sin instead of focus on what they think everyone else’s sins are.

Ultimately our salvation is personal – it’s one on one with God and God is Love.

So – if you’re going to read Romans – read all of it – and think about your own life and your relationship with God and how you relate to God and other people while you are reading it.  I think that’s the best way for all of us to read any portion of Scripture . . .

Just another one of my humble opinions.

– June

Author – Praying Our Way Through Stress: Drawing Wisdom from the Lord’s Life and Prayer

Lord, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we read the Bible and as we discuss.  Give us your mind, your heart, your ears, your eyes.  Help us to seek the way of your Love in and through this world.  God, give us your power to Love.   AMEN