A Word about the Law from Romans 3:19-20

Today I would like to share a word about the law as I comment on Romans 3:19-20.

I recently had an unpleasant encounter with a police officer. Not because I was unjustly accused but for the opposite. I actually was guilty . . .  guilty as sin. Let me explain:

I was in an unfamiliar neighborhood of a town in a nearby county on my way to a meeting with some colleagues in ministry. I was actually early, so I wasn’t in a hurry, but I was searching the house numbers along the road for the church where the meeting was being held. I topped a hill and on the other side was a crossroads with a stop sign - facing me!

I quickly stepped on my brakes, but it was clear that I was not going to stop on time, even though I was not driving very fast. I looked both ways and while I did see a car to my right, it was probably a quarter mile away, so I went on through the intersection. No one was in any danger, so everything was fine, right? Well, not so much.

I can recognize a police car a mile away, so it was not hard for me to note that the one car in sight as I blew through the stop sign was a police car. And I knew he saw me.

Once on the other side of the intersection I idled along until the police officer turned right to follow me and hit his blue lights. License, insurance card, and an admission of guilt on my part followed, and ten minutes later I drove off with a traffic citation in hand. Sadly, the church I was looking for was just a couple of blocks up the road.

I had broken the law, but there were some mitigating circumstances, right?

No one got hurt.

I wasn’t speeding or talking on my cell phone (really, I wasn’t).

I didn’t mean to run the stop sign.

I didn’t make the officer chase me,

I even admitted my guilt.

Here’s the thing, however: the law does not care about my excuses. It is very digital, either you comply with it or you don’t. Either you obey it, or you don’t. Either you are blameless or you are guilty. 

In Romans 3:19-20, Paul told us that, 

“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.”

The police officer who wrote me the ticket had every right to do so, and he also had the responsibility to do so. Although the law is righteous, the law is also harsh, and that is just the way it is.

The Good News, as in the Gospel, is that God is gracious, and He has provided us salvation from our sins through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul went on to write in Romans 4:7-8 that,

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Although I was chagrined about receiving a traffic ticket (Corbitt men are notoriously proud of our driving skills), my encounter with the law reminded me of a great spiritual lesson. It also reminded me to be ever the more grateful to our God who has saved me from my sin!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about Practical Theology from Romans 15:23-24

Today I want to share a word about practical theology as I comment on Romans 15:23-24.

We often think of Romans as an intensely theological book and it is. If we assume Paul did not write Hebrews, Romans is probably his greatest theological work.

We would be mistaken, however, to ignore the many very practical sections in Romans. For example:

In Romans 8, Paul dealt with suffering.

In Romans 12, Paul discussed our service to God.

In Romans 13, Paul outlined true patriotism and what it meant to be a good neighbor.

In Romans 15 Paul outlined the tasks of missions, church planting, and evangelism.

In Romans 16, Paul recognized faithful co-laborers in the cause of Christ.

So, you can see that Romans is a very practical book, and our focal passage for today provides us a very practical teaching. Indeed, Paul had a very practical reason for writing the church in Rome. 

Paul knew that the Church at Rome did not have an apostolic founder. He wanted the Roman believers to have a solid foundation in the faith, but not just so that could boast in their theological astuteness. In fact, Paul told them that one of the primary reasons that he was writing them was so that they could help him go to Spain on missions, which is certainly a practical ministry activity.

In Romans 15:23-24, Paul told the church at Rome, 

“But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while”

Paul’s reason for writing the Church at Rome needs to inform and guide our own use of theology.

Theology is literally the study of God, and because God is such a fascinating subject, people have in past times have gotten so enthralled with the details of God’s being and actions that they have lost focus and forgotten the purpose for which they try to learn more about Him.

Medieval theologians have rightly been criticized for arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Even if one could discover such a number, how could such knowledge improve anyone’s spiritual condition.

Contrast that with what Jesus said He came to do; to seek and save the lost and to give us abundant life. How immensely practical!

Equally practical was how Paul described the use of Spiritual Gifts in the church in Romans 12:4-8.

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

No doubt, the Book of Romans discusses many deep and intriguing spiritual truths, but those truths have a practical and beneficial application to our personal lives.  We will be looking at several of these over the next few weeks.

So, that’s all for now; thanks for watching. I will be back soon with more practical points of theology from Romans.

Every blessing,

Otis Corbitt

A Word about Isolation from Matthew 14:23

Today I would like to share a word about isolation as I comment on Matthew 14:23.

My comments today are the third and last in a series of articles about how my military experience as a chaplain has helped me apply Biblical truths to my life as I dealt with stress and difficult times. 

When I commented last, I noted how God had taught me not to borrow trouble from tomorrow and to focus on my current situation. Often, fasting from news media, social media, and other stressful stimuli is the best way to manage our stress. We must be careful, however, not to take that to the extreme.

Once, during an exercise at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, I received a radio message that a Soldier attached to us from another unit was distressed and I needed to check on him. When I arrived at his location, I found the young man sitting in the back of an armored vehicle, incommunicative and staring off into space with what we called the “thousand-yard stare.” 

My Chaplain Assistant and I ushered him into our vehicle and took him back to his own unit and placed him in the hands of their medics. Later, I learned that after a good night’s sleep the young man was fine, but his experience is instructive for us. 

Like Jesus, we do need to separate ourselves from the world from time to time. For example, Matthew 14:23 tells us, “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.”  The revival preacher Vance Havner preached a sermon called, “Come apart before you come apart,” which is excellent advice.  We must be careful to avoid a trap as we employ this technique, however. If we are not careful, withdrawal from the world can become an end in itself. 

The young Solider at Camp Shelby had withdrawn into himself so much that he has become virtually catatonic. When we withdraw so totally from the world that we fail to engage it at all, then we have taken this too far and we become dysfunctional and emotionally and physically ill.

Jesus did withdraw from the crowds and His Disciples, but only for as long as it took for Him to to recharge His spiritual and emotional batteries. Once He had accomplished this, He reengaged people and continued to pursue His mission of seeking and saving those who were lost. 

Jesus did not allow isolation and solitude become His master, but instead He mastered these for His own purposes. We must learn to do the same, because if we withdraw from this world, we cannot go into it and “make disciples of all people.” If we do, we fail ourselves and our God.

Every blessing, 

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about Resilience from Matthew 6:34

Today I am sharing a word about resilience as I comment on Matthew 6:34.

With all of the drama and trauma of the past year, no doubt many of us have experienced a high level of emotional stress which has, at least from time to time, become distress. 

We all have dealt with this situation in the best way we could, and that reminds me of some experiences from my past service in the Army.

A Stressful Time:

During the summer of 1981 I went to Fort Bragg, NC for several weeks of advanced officer cadet training and evaluation. The course was designed to put cadets under mental, emotional, physical, and social stress to evaluate if we were able to adapt and to exert leadership under those circumstances.

While I had previously completed the US Army Airborne School, and I had already experienced living in an open-bay barracks before, I found myself having some trouble standing up to the stress I was feeling. 

While I was still functional, I was very stressed, and unsure how to handle it. One particular area of trouble was the fact I was not sleeping well because I was thinking about the challenges of the next day.

Peaceful Moments:

Then, one night in my bunk, God brought an idea to my mind. He taught me to not dread tomorrow, but to focus on my current situation. In fact, the very words that He led me to say to myself were, “No matter what they might do to us tomorrow, right now I am O.K. No one is bothering me at the moment, and I need to enjoy this peace while I have it.” 

From that moment, my attitude was transformed, and I went on to successfully complete my cadet training, and after graduating from university, I was commissioned as an officer in the Regular Army. 

Although the purpose of our cadet training was to produce capable leaders by screening out those who did not meet the challenge, my time at Fort Bragg has another, more spiritual, effect on me. It brought to life a passage of Scripture that I had heard many times but had never before needed to apply to my life: 

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)

I knew that Scripture, but until I had lived it, it was not real to me. Living that Scripture required that I experience difficulty and stress. Without those I would have known this truth in my head, but not in my heart.

Now, nothing I have said above implies that I have become immune from stress; far from it. I still have to deal with stress, although I am now more concerned about taking care of those for whom I am responsible than I am about myself. 

The Key Take-aways: 

1. Our world is fallen and imperfect (and stressful) because of mankind’s sin, but God loves us, and He helps us in our infirmities. 

2. Things always work better when we do them God’s Way as revealed in His Word.

May God bless us all in 2021 and may we all learn to live empowered by God’s Word and by His Holy Spirit.

Every blessing, 

Dr.  Otis Corbitt  

Rest for the Weary from Hebrews 4:9-11

Today I am commenting on Hebrews 4:9-11.

People are tired. Pastors are tired. I am tired. 2020 was a dumpster fire of a year; in fact, someone designed a 2020 Christmas tree ornament in the shape of a dumpster fire. I find that most appropriate. We all need a new start.

The last time I felt this tired was ten years ago at the end of my deployment to Iraq as a chaplain in the Alabama Army National Guard. I was not only chaplain for a very busy unit, but I also was pastor of the largest chapel service on Camp Victory in Baghdad. 

During the week I burned the candle at both ends and by the time Sunday afternoon arrived I was so tired that all I could do was lie on my bed and close my eyes. I was so tired I could not even sleep, much less read a book, watch a movie on my computer, or listen to music. By supper time, however, I had revived enough to make my way to the dining facility for a good meal, and by Monday I was back up and at it, starting another busy week of ministry.

I am not quite as tired today as I was in Iraq, but the past year has presented us all with stresses and challenges that have made us all tired and we are all looking for some relief in 2021. The good news is that relief is available to us, as the writer of Hebrews reminded us:

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11)

To be clear, the writer was talking about our rest from relying on works for salvation, and resting in Christ as our Savior, but if we can rest in Him for salvation, can we not also rest in Him for . . . rest?

The Corona virus has negatively impacted many areas of our life, but participation in church worship and other ministries has been impacted more than most in my estimation. What lessons can we draw from our experience of 2020?

Build Spiritual Endurance:

First, and most immediately, we must take every opportunity to build our spiritual endurance. We can do this through private and family devotions, through use of technology and the internet, and, most importantly, through safely gathering as often as possible with our church family for mutual support and encouragement.

Remember the Lessons from Jospeh:

Second, as the Corona virus situation improves, and I am confident it will, we need to remember the lesson of the seven fat years and the seven lean years in the story of Joseph. We need to build our spiritual strength in the easy times, because one thing is for certain, hard times will come again.

Be of Good Cheer:

Finally, we all must remember that our ultimate rest in Christ is yet to come, when we cross over the Jordan into the Eternal Zion of Heaven. Even if the Corona virus continues to bedevil us, God has prepared a place for us with Him for Eternity, so be of good cheer, child of God!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt