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Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It is not infrequent for me to be asked by someone to visit with his or her family member about an addiction or destructive behavior.  I am…
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Romans 9:14,20 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” I have never liked this passage.  It rubs me the wrong way and paints a picture of…
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Romans 8:28, 38, 39 We know that for those who love God all things work together for good… It is natural for my faith and hope to be warped by my own defective desires.  It is natural, but not often helpful.  When I was a child, I thought it would be rewarding if God gave…
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Romans 8:22 The whole creation has been groaning together… There are days when this blog writes itself and then there are days when I just want to hide from the blog.  This is one of those days.  I fear that I will not do justice to the topic of suffering or to God.  I am…
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Romans 8:13 If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Years ago, I met a man in his mid-twenties with uncontrolled diabetes since childhood.  He had inherited the apathy of his parents and was still not…
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Romans 8:6-13 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace…Those who are in the flesh cannot please God… If you live according to the flesh you will die… When life fell apart due to my addiction, those around me quoted this passage…
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Romans 8:2 The Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. It is not uncommon for a patient to seek help with an ailment for which there is no pill.  I will insist the answer lies in weight loss, physical therapy or some lifestyle modification, but…
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Romans 7:15,19 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Why can the alcoholic not put down the…
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Romans 6:16 You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. The addict, in his misery, ironically, knows only one way to feel better.  He finds respite in the pursuit of that which made him miserable in the first place.  The…
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Romans 6:12-14 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions… For sin will have no dominion over you… At the coffee shop counter the other day, I asked if there was sugar in a certain drink.  The question quickly deescalated into a discussion on the evils of sugar. …
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