Here’s a reminder of this magnificent passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. The more I read it, the more I see of the brilliant, exuberant joy of God’s plan – all for us. Reading these verses all but silences all ‘woe is me!’ funks. What’s fascinating to me is to think of all that Paul has gone through to be able to write with such driving conviction, such fiery passion. My guess is that in his former life as a Pharisee, this level of celebratory discourse was rare indeed. As we continue to savor these verses throughout this month of August, may the Holy Spirit focus us to discover more and more of what has been hidden in plain sight. If, along the way, you can’t help but put some of your own newfound excitement into words, please send it along and I’ll share it in a future email. Let’s grow and encourage one another together! PD
Romans 5:1-11, TPT
Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us. Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness that has given us a perfect relationship with God. What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we keep on celebrating our hope of experiencing God’s glory!
But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!
For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.
Now, would anyone dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!
And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. So if while we were still enemies, God fully reconciled us to himself through the death of his Son, then something greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in his resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion!
And even more than that, we overflow with triumphant joy in our new relationship of living reconciled to God—all because of Jesus Christ!
