Romans 4:13-15 :: Proverbs vs Romans

Romans 4:13-15 in the TNIV and Message translations                Reading Plan

If you read Proverbs, you get a lot of "if A then B" statements.  If you live righteously, good things will come to you.  If you turn against God, calamity will fall on you.  If you raise your kids right, they will turn out well.  If you remain faithful to God, you will prosper.  God is on one side of the equation, and we're on the other, and as long as we fulfill A then God is right there to fulfull B.

Explaining the conventions of Proverbs is a topic for another day, but suffice it to say that they are meant to be words of wisdom for living, not guaranteed rewards for certain behaviors.  And that's actually very, very good news, because most of the time we don't live up to our side.  Paul's great news in today's text is that, even if we don't do A, God is still faithful to B.  The Old Testament is full of stories of God's people being unfaithful, and God remaining faithful to them.  And God expressed this ultimately and perfectly in the person of Jesus: love, forgiveness, and reconciliation for all humanity, who did nothing to deserve it.

God's faithfulness changes the equation.  If I do A, God does B.  If I don't do A, God still does B.  If I totally abandon A and do C, God still does B.  God remains faithful to his promise, even if I don't.

"It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed."  God has decided to put everything together for us.  Our job is to trust Him, not run ahead and try to fix it up for ourselves.  Not to decide that we don't like what He's putting together, or how, and try to work out a better plan.

How often do you live in the "if A then B" mentality?  Do you assume that because you're one of the good people, God should reward you, or that because of the mistakes you've made, God still considers you a second-class citizen?  How do you still attempt to earn God's favor?