The start of this chapter of Romans is my Baptism verse -
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
I love this verse. I praise God for this verse. This is the gospel in a nutshell. We are all saved through Jesus and because of that, we are now no longer condemned. We are forgiven, we are set free. We are no longer slaves to sin, but we are sons and daughters of the living God. What a truth to remember. Son's not slaves, forgiven not forgotten, we are free!
This part of chapter 6 reminds us that before knowing the Lord we were servants of sin. We were going the wrong way; we were lost; we were going no where fast.
I know that personally before receiving Jesus into my life I was lost and was going no where. Everything was about me and what I could do or get. But once I chose to follow Christ my priorities changed. Everything I do I want to glorify God. That's not to say that I don't get things wrong, or don't think of myself. BUT my real goal, my desperate need is to know Him, to serve Him and to show others the way to Salvation through Jesus.
I know that I am eternally grateful that Jesus died for me. I praise God for what He's done, is doing and is going to do in my life. My prayer is that I would honour Jesus with everything that I do, think and say. What about you?
In my bible this passage has the heading Dead to sin, Alive in Christ. This is a brilliant truth but a hard one to live.
How often do we forget that we are Alive in Christ? How often do we try to die to the old self? We need to have this engrained into our very beings. We need to come the realisation that Christ Jesus died for us once and for all so that we can be free in Him. So that we can have the fullness of life through the power of His Spirit. So that we can forget our past and move on in the Salvation of Jesus Christ.
I want to live every day for Him. I want to make a difference for the Kingdom. I want to let go of the past and run forward into the future. Let's make sure that we are Alive in Christ, that we live each day to the full for His Glory!
I must admit this final part of chapter 5 is not an easy read. When you read it aloud it sounds very confusing. However, we can praise God for what this passage actually means.
In a nutshell this is what its says:
We through Adams sin are all sinners and deserve to be punished, but through the gift of Jesus dying on the cross we are saved.
Jesus death was our saving gift from God. How amazing is that? We did the wrong stuff and God paid the debt for us with a gift. That means we owe him nothing. When we give someone a gift it's free. They don't pay us back they just get it. So it is with Salvation. We did the wrong, Jesus paid the price we are free - Job done!
Let's Praise God for the debt being paid. Let's thank our Lord and Saviour for paying our debts off. Let's remember that even though we don't deserve the forgiveness and grace of God - we get it anyway just by receiving Jesus as Lord.
I love this chapter of Romans. Whenever I read it I always feel uplifted. The whole passage is brilliant, showing us the hope we have in God. However the bit that I love the most is verses 6-8,
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I don't really think I can do this passage of scripture justice to be honest. It really does speak for itself. These few verses show the love of God. Jesus died for everyone, he didn't just die for the people that believe in Him, but also for those who don't believe. He died while we were still in sin, while we were far away from Him.
We need to hold on to this passage. We need to believe this passage. We need to remember these verses and know that even when things around us are going wrong, that our hope is build on Jesus. Our hope is in the Lord, as He demonstrated His love for us through the cross. Do we really think that He'd go through all of that just for us to fall at the first hurdle? Let's trust in Him and put our hope in Him. He is all we need.
This chapter of Romans is about Faith, however the verses that jumped off the page at me was verses 7-8, Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him
How brilliant is it that, God not only forgives our sin, but also doesn't count them against us. We are completely forgiven. Through the cross our sin is covered. We can be assured that when we repent we are completely set free from that sin. God doesn't keep account, all of our sin is wiped from the book. We are clean.
We can be assured that even though we fall short of the Glory of God, we are forgiven through the blood of Christ. PRAISE GOD!
In this chapter of Romans, Paul talks about the Jews and the law. He warns them of being more for the law than for their relationship with God. He warns them that they are not a Jew on the outside, they must be a Jew inside too.
We need to remember this as Christians too. We need to make sure that our relationship is the top of the list, and not all the stuff that goes with being a Christian. Obviously we have to obey God, however, if we put the stuff before our relationship with God then we are wasting our time. So what is important in our lives? Are we busy judging others, or even acting as a Christian outwardly, but inwardly we are not.
God asks us to give our whole lives to him. He wants us warts and all. Jesus didn't die so that we could have a hobby. He didn't go to the cross so that we could have yet another social club. Jesus death made it possible that we don't have to live under the law, but through grace. I don't want to be religious, I want to live my life for Him, with Him and through Him. I want to make sure that I have God inside and out
