1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11 NRSV).
Happy Tuesday, Friend! I pray this finds you well. I would add that on my website pimplesandwrinkles.org, I did a longer lesson on Romans 5. It is the latest episode called Jesus Justifies and you can click here to listen: https://www.pimplesandwrinkles.org/media.
For Paul and all believers in Jesus Christ, the word Justified is an important word. Justification is the complete word and it stands for being made right, as in a relationship. It means also complete acceptance. We saw an old movie in seminary (which makes it even older!) of a Mexican mission that took in orphans. It was run by a priest and the story is simple. A little boy, badly scarred and disfigured by a fire, has heard that this place welcomes all children, houses them and feeds them and he wants to see if they would welcome him in. I should add previous scenes have shown how hard life has been for this little boy, having lost his entire family and found himself now homeless. Doors closed on his face, he had to find food in the worse places and hearing the news of a possible place in which to finally be able to live, he knocks on the mission door. There is fear on his face as he awaits a response. The door finally opens and the fear grows. The look says will they accept me? Have I found a home? The priest, who opened the door, smiles at the little boy and invites him in. The boy steps in and he is hugged by the priest and the boy makes his way into the mission. At first the other children are a bit taken aback by the boy's face but soon all begin to smile back at the boy and greet him with touching his back and hugs. The boy finally smiles a big smile and knows he is home. The point of the movie was this was justification. The self-perceived unwanted are wanted, and I would add, welcomed. Paul knows this and thus his writing to the believers in Rome.
Justification has brought peace to Paul's life. As it should to all believers. And this peace is important for our lives. Nowhere does Paul write that being Christian is without sufferings and so Paul addresses these too. I love the progression chart he outlines about suffering, and he wrote this from experience. He says there is no shame in suffering, in fact, he says he boasts about his sufferings "because suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." Then he adds, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly...But God proves His love for us in that while we sill were sinners Christ died for us."
Paul sums up the Good News: God loved us enough to send Jesus. Jesus loves us enough to die for us, and through His blood and body paid the price for our sins. Our alienation from God is no more; the doors once perceived as closed to us, are wide open through which we are easily and eternally reconciled with God. We are saved and safe from all eternal harm and evil.
PRAYER: Awesome God, thank You for the wide open door of Your love for us. We pray for those who don't feel worthy of Your grace that they may know they too are welcome and loved in Your kingdom. Use us to share the news; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share an invitation to justification today!
Receive my blessings of peace and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
