Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called [to be] an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
From the last time we were in The book of Romans we learned that it is a letter that Paul wrote from Corinth to the Philippian Church. Paul took this time to write to the faithful body of believers in Rome. Paul wrote with great longing to see the Philippians, that he may minister to the church. That he may impart to them a spiritual gift.
In this introduction of Paul about himself, we can find our own identity. Think about it...Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ... Do you know to whom you present yourselves as slaves to obey? Sure, we can argue that we're not slaves to anything or anyone. Yet just in this introduction, Paul is stating that, he divorced himself from Saul the slave of sin leading to death, and now identifies himself as Paul a slave of obedience leading to righteousness. As believers we do serve God by allowing Him to work out His righteousness in us.
Called [to be] an apostle...Maybe like me this is something that you struggle with. Thoughts like I'm not educated enough in the Bible, or I lack confidence to speak in front of people, or i'm just not talented enough. Here, Paul is addressing the finger-pointing, and the questioning of him being a true quote unquote apostle of God. No, he didn't follow Jesus from the baptism of John to the resurrection. However, he was called by God, and Paul makes it clear in this chapter that we [all] have received grace and apostleship from God.
Separated unto the gospel of God...Paul testifies here that God separated him from the things of this world. God brought him to a place where nothing was more important in his life here on earth than spreading the gospel of hope, and truth. Like Paul are calling is not to be primarily holy women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. What comes to mind is the M&M commercial, where a M&M picks one out of 100 peanuts to be a peanut M&M. That one peanut is separated from all the other peanuts for one purpose only, to be a peanut M&M. This peanut's identity is no longer found in him being a peanut, but in being a peanut M&M.
With a very good friend passing away yesterday, I had to ask myself...What's your introduction look like? What will people say about you at your funeral? Is your identity found in Christ?