Notes from Romans

I finished reading Romans earlier in the weekend and realized I had a lot of notes.

A few:

-Take your normal everyday life and offer it to God.
-Embrace what God does for you.
-Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
-Fix your attention on God to be changed inside out.
-Recognize what He wants from you and respond to it.
-We don't find meaning from God, we find it in Him.
-Keep a smile on your face.
-Love from the center of who you are - don't fake it.
-Bless your enemies, no cursing under your breath.
-Get along well, laugh with happy friends - shed tears when they're down.
-Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone.
-Don't insist on getting even, God will be the judge.
-If you see your enemy hungry, go and buy them lunch.
-Love others. The sum of all things is love.

Romans has quickly become one of my favorite books. Paul wrote it in response to the Romans' lack of acknowledging what happened to Jesus - His life, death, and resurrection. It's written poetically and logically - and I love the words he chose to emphasize. This year, I'm reading the Bible again, chronologically. I had a lot of questions the first time around - I'm not completely done. I have a few books in the NT (Galatians-Rev) and then I need to go back and finish Isaiah and Ezekiel before I'm done. I stopped reading Isaiah around chapter 26 or so... it's a difficult book! I am learning that I really enjoy reading the Bible. There is a lot of history in it that I remember from school and it's been fun to challenge myself with that. Of course Jesus' teachings are also pretty important :) so that is enjoyable too!