Monday Thought -- August 5, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“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 man, though for a good man 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. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11)

Paul uses four terms to describe mankind when Jesus came to die for us:

     Powerless.

     Ungodly.

     Sinners.

     God’s enemies.

Those words hardly describe the kind of people that seem worthy of the marvelous sacrifice that Jesus made for us. And that’s precisely the point! Mankind never has been worthy, isn’t worthy now, and never will be worthy of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. That fact makes the sacrifice of Jesus that much more a demonstration of the depth of God’s love and grace.

God sent Jesus to make the sacrifice that He did for people that did not deserve it, have not earned it, and are not worthy of it.

We were powerless -- we were not in a position to be able to offer God anything that might be useful to Him. The sacrifice of Jesus was no quid pro quo – He sacrifices for us and we give Him something in return. We have nothing that God needs to offer in return.

We were ungodly -- we weren’t like God at all. In fact, our character and God’s character were quite opposites. He didn’t make the sacrifice because we were so much like Him.

We were sinners -- all of the laws that God established to order the world, we broke. There isn’t a law of God that mankind was not guilty of ignoring or breaking.

We were God’s enemies -- we didn’t just ignore God, we opposed God and all that He stood for.

Powerless – ungodly -- sinners -- God’s enemies -- yet God sent Jesus to die for us so that we could be reconciled to Him. He wanted -- and still wants -- a relationship with us that badly. That’s something to rejoice about!

His, by Grace,

Steve