Remnant: A Daily Verse-by-Verse Devotional

Paul gives us another broad point in support of his plea for peace: that no one lives to himself. We explore what that means and how we can have peace by stopping the urge to live our lives for ourselves.

Paul makes a big statement here that applies to the two specific disputes within the church in Rome, but that applies perfectly to every church dispute: that things we do to honor God are good.

Paul now tackles a second specific issue within the church in Rome: esteeming one day as better than another. This likely refers to the Sabbath, theological experts tell us. So we explore Sabbath.

Paul makes clear that in this conflict within the church in Rome, neither side had standing to pass judgment on the other.

Paul makes clear that both the strong and the weak have an obligation to not despise or judge each other. We talk about how that applies to disputes we have in our churches today.

Are you a meat eater? Then today's devotional is for you.

Paul starts chapter 14 by laying out in broad terms the problem he's about to tackle: that some people are "weak" in faith in ways Paul is going to detail in coming verses.

Paul directs the church in Rome to "put on" Jesus. We explore that unusual call to action and what it means to put on Jesus.

Paul gives a long list of things not to do in verse 13, and gives us an alternative to those things: walking properly. We talk about what it means to walk with God.

Paul uses a familiar metaphor to describe why we need to act.

Paul starts a final paragraph in his call to action by pointing out that Jesus's second coming is closer now than when we first believed. We talk about how to respond to this fact.

Paul sums up why love fulfills the law: because love does no wrong.

Paul makes clear that the old law has been fulfilled by Jesus and replaced with one clear command: to love.

Paul transitions in this verse to a major concept: love.

Paul concludes this section with a big statement about how followers of Jesus are to live as governed by occasionally unChristian government leaders.

Paul gives an example of something we do when we subject ourselves to government: pay taxes. We dig into why taxes were in dispute back then.

Paul tells us that, for two reasons, we must be in "subjection." We talk about that word and how it was used in a story in Luke 2, as a way of knowing how we're to live our lives--ranked under government and each other.

Paul concludes a quartet of verses about how God uses government for good by pointing out that God works through government leaders to punish wrongdoers and protect the rest of us.

Paul further tells us that rulers are in place for a reason, for God's reason, and of course God has good reasons. We explore that through the lens of Acts 16, when Paul is jailed by rulers, which was used by God for good.

Paul continues applying the general principles from chapter 12 to the specific instance of a government authority that we may not agree with.

Paul transitions from general marks of a true Christian in the face of persecution to the specific persecutor in Rome: the government.

Paul concludes chapter 12 by giving us the one major mark of a true Christian: the ability to overcome evil with good, instead of being overcome by evil. I give three ways we modern Christians can be overcome by evil, borrowing from a John Mark Comer book I just finished.

Paul quotes Proverbs to support his argument that we should be kind to our enemies.

Paul tells us to never avenge ourselves. We talk about vengeance and why we ought to pray for our persecutors instead of taking vengeance.

Paul instructs for us to, whenever possible, live peaceably.