Fifty Two Weeks / Romans 8

Centennial Park 1975

I made an adult decision to follow Christ in the early Spring of 1975. At that time my life was a mess. I wasn’t involved with a criminal crowd but I was involved with a godless crowd. Most of my friends were in the Nashville theatre community and after deciding to follow Christ I felt it was imperative that I get out of that environment. God had other plans.

One of my best friends in the theatre was C. B. Anderson. He was a fine actor and director but we were a bad influence on each other. When I told C.B. That I was leaving the theatre he pulled a fast one on me and gave his life to Christ. C.B., his wife, and three sons all came to the Lord. Suddenly instead of spending our spare time in questionable pursuits we now begin to spend time reading the Bible together.

I will never forget that day in the summer of 1975 when we sat down in Centennial Park in Nashville and decided to read the book of Romans out loud to each other. C.B. Would read a chapter and then I would read a chapter. After he read the first chapter I was disappointed because it was so good I was sure I should have taken the odds instead of the evens. By the end of the seventh chapter all that had faded away as we were both overwhelmed by all of the chapters. 

Then came chapter eight. 

If God was watching (and of course He was) He must have smiled as we came upon some of the most magnificent prose ever written. I could delve into some of the take aways from this chapter but I honestly don’t know where to begin. This chapter could easily fill a lengthy book so virtually anything I could add in a mere blog post would seem quite feeble. 

Do this. Read this chapter out loud. Read it like you mean it. Read it like you really believe it. Prepare to be overwhelmed, for…

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you… Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ… I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us… And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son… If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Read it out LOUD.