Awareness of sin
Day 553, Sunday, Feb. 15
Romans 3:9-20
Today’s reading introduces one of Paul’s core teachings: the law does not have the power to save. Its value lies in making us aware of how sinful we are. “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
Paul considers sin to be a power that imprisons us. Salavation isn’t attained by deciding to stop sinning; it is attained by recognizing that Jesus Christ has defeated that power and set us free.
Attempting to set ourselves free by obedience to the law is futile; nothing less than the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross can accomplish that.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Sunday meditation

Psalms 78:56-64
But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely. He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans. He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance. Fire consumed their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs; their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.

Prayer focus
Free us, God, from the spirit of sin and rebellion that reigns in our hearts until we accept your emancipation.