Friday, January 23, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Romans 9-10
Key Verse
Romans 9:28 — “For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”
Devotional Thought
Paul opens Romans 9 with a confession that ought to stop us in our tracks: he would be willing to be “accursed from Christ” for the sake of his kinsmen, the Israelites. This is not rhetorical flourish. This is the heart of a man who has seen the glory of the gospel and cannot bear that his own people have stumbled at it. As we walk through these chapters, we are not reading abstract theology; we are overhearing a pastor’s grief. And the grief is sharp precisely because the privileges were so great—adoption, glory, covenants, the law, the promises, and even Christ Himself according to the flesh. Yet Paul insists that God’s word has not failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. The children of the promise, not merely the children of the flesh, are counted as Abraham’s seed.
This brings us to the difficult and humbling doctrine of election. Before Jacob and Esau were born, before either had done good or evil, God said, “The elder shall serve the younger.” Paul anticipates our objection—Is God unjust?—and answers with the words spoken to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” The potter has power over the clay. Here is where we must bow. We do not come to God on the strength of our pedigree, our effort, or our sincerity. We come because He has shown mercy. And that mercy is not narrow; it flows out to Gentiles who were “not my people” and makes them “children of the living God.”
Then Romans 10 turns the corner and shows us how this mercy reaches us: through the word of faith that is nigh us, in our mouth and in our heart. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” There is no difference between Jew and Greek—the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. But how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How shall they hear without a preacher? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And so the chapter ends with God’s own lament: “All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.”
In the dead of January, when the days are short and the world feels cold, these chapters call us to two things. First, to examine where our confidence lies—not in lineage or labor, but in the mercy of God alone. Second, to feel the weight of Paul’s burden for those who have not heard or have not believed. The gospel is not ours to hoard. It is a message sent, preached, and believed. And the feet of those who carry it are called beautiful.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you subtly trusting in your own righteousness, heritage, or religious effort rather than submitting to the righteousness of God that comes by faith in Christ?
- Paul was willing to be accursed for the sake of his unbelieving kinsmen. Who in your family, neighborhood, or circle of friends needs you to carry the gospel to them—and what is one concrete way you can do so this week?
Prayer
Father, we confess that our hearts are prone to wander into self-righteousness, trusting in our own works rather than in the finished work of Your Son. Thank You for the mercy that does not depend on our willing or running, but on Your sovereign compassion. Lord, we believe that Jesus died and rose again for our justification. Give us boldness to confess Him with our mouths and to live as those who are not ashamed. And we pray for those who have not heard, or who have heard and not believed. Send laborers into the harvest. Make us willing to go, to speak, and to love. Stretch forth Your hands through us to a disobedient and gainsaying world, that many might be saved. In the name of Jesus, Amen.