one step: Romans 13.3

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Debt has become all too common in our culture today. To owe something to someone else has become far too American. Debt can be a source of burden and of shame. Most people don’t go around bragging about their debt.

In the context of Scripture and the original language, Paul does not imply that we should never owe anything to anyone, but that we should return what we owe as quickly as possible.* When talking about the debt of love, it’s not so easy to pay off, and it’s a debt that may need more attention.

Love is a debt for which we must endeavor to pay but never will be able to repay.* This sort of love-giving Christian life requires intentionality. Though Paul lists things that love does not do, love is not simply refraining doing things.* If this were the case, a rock lying on the ground loves better than any.* Love requires action directed toward others.

As Osborne states,

We may pay our taxes and be quit. We may give respect and honor where they are due and have no further obligation. But we can never say, “I have done all the loving I need do.” Love is a permanent obligation, a debt impossible to discharge.

Paul, echoing the words of Jesus, instructs that to love your neighbor as yourself and to love God takes care of the law of Moses.* Meaning, love isn’t just completing all of the commandments, nor is love a substitute for the commandments.* Love is the motive behind the commandments and their practice.* When we act in love, the commandments are the perfect expression of love. This love cannot, however, be practiced in isolation. To isolate ourselves from others is to remove ourselves from a place of biblical love.

Engagement in the Christian community is necessary to fulfill the law because fulfilling the law requires love, and love requires engagement with others.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to engage in community in a way that looks like an attempt to discharge the debt of love. Perhaps today God wants you to love your neighbor as yourself. Maybe today God wants you receive His love in a way that overflows to others. Perhaps today God wants you to brag about the debt of love you owe.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 500–502). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 348–351). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 467–470). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (pp. 433–434). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 13.2

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Death, tyranny, and manipulative control have relied upon these words taken out of context.* Despite their misuse, these verses teach an important doctrine for society: secular government serves as an arm of the will of God.* Thus, for believers, respect and honor must be paid to those governments.* Respect and honor are intangibles that believers must render to civil authorities.* They leave no room for mere grudging, outward recognition; God asks for inner submission as well.* Paul does not stop on inner submission though; he includes the tangibles of taxes to be paid as they are due as well.*

As believers, we are not to submit to rulers just because they are powerful or have wealth.* We are to submit because civil authorities are functioning arms of the will of God.* Though they are always imperfect and rarely do the right thing every time (they are human, after all), governing authorities give their lives full-time to leading, thus serving as ministers of God.* They are the administrators of leadership on earth. This may seem to be a strange concept, especially when those secular authorities crash against the will and words of God.

What are we to do when those authorities move against God?

One scholar suggests that Paul’s words have two intended audiences: those who lead and those who follow.* We already noted the posture that God calls believers to regarding the authorities that He sets over them. For authorities, they must rule in a way that is consistent with God’s justice.* Stanley Porter suggests,

The important implication is that unjust authorities are not due the obedience of which Paul speaks, but rather are outside these boundaries of necessary obedience. Rather than being a text which calls for submissive obedience, Rom 13:1–7 is a text which only demands obedience to what is right, never to what is wrong.’

Paul and Christ would undoubtably argue that Paul’s words argue for both a submission to leaders and a submission to God.

What does this mean for us? Our posture toward leadership must be submission while the call for leadership is submission to God. In submitting to leadership, we are submitting to God.* When that leadership steps outside of God’s ways, our submission is first to Him. This submission to God above all is what disarms the ability of tyranny and manipulative control from operating.

Here is the question: are you submitted in humility? Before we can point out the errs in our leader’s submission to God, we must note our own.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to submit to the authority He has placed over you. Perhaps today God wants you to question your own submission to God first. Maybe today God wants you to humbly ask questions about the submission of your leadership. Perhaps God wants to show you how to follow those He’s placed over you despite their imperfections.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 499). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 346–348). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 466–467). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (pp. 423–424). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: water break

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

The One Step Daily Devotional is intended to provide just one step each day for your journey with God. Every journey requires water breaks. Here is a water break for you.

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What has God called you to? Where has He called you to go? What are you waiting for?

God was very clear with Abram in calling Him, and He was very unclear with where Abram was to go.

After calling Abram to go to the “land that I will show you,” He promised all sorts of wonderful things. How many times does God promise us all sorts of wonderful things, but we say, “yeah, but…”

Imagine if Abram had said, “that’s great God, those promises are amazing, but where did you say you are sending me? I need to know before I go”? I wouldn’t blame Abram if He did. After all, God was asking a lot.

In asking Abram to leave his entire family, He was asking a big thing. Abram already experienced loss when his father moved them away from their family to Haran.* For God to ask Abram to move again meant losing the rest of his family. This move meant leaving protection, provision, and familiarity. Furthermore, God was asking Abram to leave the legacy of his family.* In the time of Abram, the gods of the family were unique to the family and of great value.* They were passed down from generation to generation and were interwoven into the identity of the family.* God was asking Abram to turn his back on his family identity. This was no small thing.

God was asking Abram to trade the protection, care, and provision of his family for the protection, care, and provision of God.*

What is God asking you to trade?

God ended up asking Abram to take a 500-mile trip by foot.* Without stops, this would take a month.* How far is God asking you to go?

It would be understandable for any of us to stop God while He’s calling us and say, “yeah, but… I need to know…” God asks a lot of those who follow Him. But, we did surrender it all, didn’t we?

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to say “yes” to His call. Perhaps today God wants you to step out without knowing much more than what He has said. Maybe today God wants you to find what you need in Him and not others. Perhaps God wants you to surrender all and see what He does.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Walton, J. H. (2001). Genesis (p. 392). Zondervan.

one step: Romans 13.1

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

In our context, it’s difficult to know when to push back against authority and when not to. In our cultural and governmental context in America, leaders are elected and chosen. The voice of the people is encouraged in decision-making. Agreement or the lack thereof provides the discourse of decision-making in our country.

In Paul’s context, the Roman Empire served as the center of the modern world.* The dynamics of an empire are much different than what we experience in our country, making it difficult to relate Paul’s exact intentions to the church in Rome at the time of his writing.* Regardless of the nuances, the influence of the Romans was wide-spread, and a certain group of zealous Christians at the time of Paul desired to rebel against all things “of this world.”* In their eyes, things that we now support as Christians were seen as “of this world” (things such as marriage!!).*

Paul’s efforts in this passage were not to suggest a blind following of leadership even when it misaligns with God (the ultimate authority).* The context of Scripture attests to this (Acts 4:19, 5:29, etc). Paul was operating from a place of understanding that our allegiance first and foremost goes to God and then government after that. Those that Paul talked to did not have a problem putting God first. They had a problem with balance in their lives. It was the kind of balance that Jesus modeled in Mark 12:17: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

With this in mind, in our context, we do need to recognize that God sets up all authority. Our understanding of this should come through knowing that though God constructs and sets in authority, and He can remove it when He wishes, people still have the opportunity to lead and act well or not.*

Our choice is how we respond. There’s no formula. There’s relationship. We must ask God (who has all authority and is over all authority) how to respond to the authority that He has allowed in place. Only living by His answers will we find peace.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to respect authority. Perhaps God wants you to ask God what He thinks of the leadership you serve under. Maybe God wants you to ask Him about His thoughts on what you have done with your authority. Perhaps today God wants you to recognize His supreme authority in your life and this world. Maybe today God wants you to allow Him to show you balance.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 490–494). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 341–343). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 457–462). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (pp. 420–433). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 12.11

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It’s difficult to look at the darkness in this world and not be overwhelmed at times. The various ways that evil permeates and manifests in our culture can seem countless. How do we battle this darkness? How do we overcome evil?

In our desire to overcome evil, we can run from it, speak ill against it, retaliate, or deny its existence.

Paul shares with us that the way to overcome evil (and not be overcomed by it) is with good.* This aligns to the teaching of Jesus to love our enemies (Luke. 6:27–28, 35).* What does overcoming evil with good look like in our lives?

Paul shows us how to overcome evil with good: to hate what is evil and cling to what is good (v. 9), bless rather than curse persecutors (v. 14), refuse to retaliate (v. 17), seek peace (v. 18), and refuse to seek vengeance (v. 19).* In addition, when we give food and drink to our enemies (v. 20), we overcome evil with good!*

When we retaliate against our enemies because of the evil done to us, we become just like them.* In this way, we become overcome by evil. Becoming victorious is returning good for evil.*

Here’s the good news: evil cannot stand against good.*

Engaging in good in the face of evil requires the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to allow us to do what we cannot on our own. We need Him to over come.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to rely on Him for the strength you need to give good to those who do evil to you. Perhaps today God wants you to change your strategy for reacting to the evil of this world. Maybe today God wants you to overcome.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 485–486). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 340–341). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 455–456). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (pp. 413–414). Zondervan Publishing House.