#DailyDevotion What You Don’t Want To Hear About Yourself But It Was True.
Lent Day 13
Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Weak! Sinners! Enemies of God! That is how God describes us before Jesus’ resurrection. Indeed, that is our state of being before receiving faith from God. It probably isn’t how we would describe ourselves to anyone. There may be even a hosts of people who would never describe you as such. But that is how God found you.
Weak. You were unable to resist sin. Oh you may not have outwardly committed that sin. After all, you probably wouldn’t get away with it. Perhaps the retaliation from others wouldn’t be worthy it. You don’t want people thinking you’re a bad person. You don’t want to think you’re a bad person. But think about and plan that sin, you most certainly did. You couldn’t help yourself. You were weak. Shoot, even born again Christians with the Holy Spirit are still weak in the flesh at times. You didn’t even have that working for you.
You were weak, because you were a sinner. You’re a sinner because you were sinful. That is the natural state of the heart. Jesus tells us, Mar 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, (22) coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. (23) All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Jesus also says, Joh 3:19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” No, you don’t want to think about yourself this way but it is a true confession of the state of your soul before faith.
You were an enemy of God. Now that’s why you’re sinful in the first place. In Adam you rebelled against God. Eve may have been deceived, but Adam knew what he was doing. It was an outright rebellion, just like Satan. You were in Adam. You rebelled in and with Adam on that day. Now you are just carrying out that life of death having been made manifest in the world. Your life is one in rebellion against the Creator who made you. This is how God found you.
The good news is these all can be past tense for you as it was for the Romans Paul was writing. Christ Jesus died for you someone who was weak. Not particularly normal in Roman times much less today. The good news is God sent his son Christ Jesus into the world to die for sinners. He shed his blood so you may be justified before God Almighty on the Day of Judgment. Jesus saved you from God’s wrath. More than that! Jesus reconciled you, his enemies to his Father in heaven by his death. Jesus has saved you by his life. This is cause for great rejoicing in God through Jesus Christ. Jesus has caused and affected our reconciliation with God. All that is necessary to be one with the Father, Jesus has brought about for you freely by his innocent, suffering and death and has brought you into his light by his life.
Heavenly Father, though we by no means deserve any good from you because of our thoughts, words and deeds, grant faith in your great gift of reconciliation in Christ that we are made strong, saints and your children by such faith. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.