Today's reading: Paul continues his appeal to Israelites of the flesh, wishing that all of them would believe the good news about Jesus Christ.
Memory gem: "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" (Romans 10:9).
Thought for today:
Believe in Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel, the good news about Him--that He took our place on the cross and died for our sins, that He was buried in Joseph's new tomb, that He rose again from the dead, that He ascended to heaven. We must believe that He is our Saviour from sin, and through faith in Him we have eternal life.
And before we can believe that He saved us from our sins, we must believe that there is such a thing as sin, and we must believe that we are sinners.
If we truly believe, we will repent before we are baptized. We must be able to say from a true heart, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." A person must be able to understand what he is doing before he is ready for baptism. He must be a candidate for eternal life. He must believe the gospel. He must repent. He must pray.
No one can believe for you. No one can ask for baptism in your place, repent in your place, or pray in your place. No, you must do it yourself. You must believe, pray, confess, be baptized.
If there is a soul reading these words who is not baptized, do not put it off. Start to prepare for it. Such is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such is His example for us.