Lent Day Fifteen
“Romans 5:1–2, 6–10”
Romans 5:1–2, 6–10 The Passion Translation
1 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!
2 Our faith guarantees us access into this marvelous kindness which has given us a perfect relationship with God. What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we celebrate our hope of sharing God’s glory!
6 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.
7 Now who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? And we can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person,
8 yet who has ever heard of someone dying for an evil enemy? But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!
9 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!
10 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 his resurrection life we are brought to perfection!
What incredibly rich verses – they really pack a punch! That we have been made righteous before God because of Jesus’ sacrifice is a powerful truth for us to meditate on. Too often we can rush past this as we know it so well, but just take a few moments to dwell on the fact that you are declared righteous before God because of the cross. The Old Testament is full of detail about the involved sacrifices needed to atone for the people’s sin – and the consequences when God’s holiness was not honoured. Jesus did away with all of that. And in case we need a reminder, Romans 3:10 (NIV) tells us that: “There is no-one righteous, not even one” – each one of us needed Jesus’ saving action. Even though we were far from him – basically his enemies – Jesus stepped towards us and, more than that, paid the price for our salvation, for us to be clothed in righteousness. As Isaiah 61:10 says:
“I will sing and greatly rejoice in Yahweh!
My whole being vibrates
with shouts of joy in my God!
For he has dressed me with salvation
and wrapped me in the robe of his righteousness!”
Allow thanks and praise to rise up in your heart as you visualise that robe of righteousness being placed around your shoulders. What an act of love.
I find it quite overwhelming that Jesus’ sacrifice was done out of pure love. As Hebrews 12:2 says: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross” – the joy was knowing all those that he would draw close to himself, all those that would be set free to enjoy eternal life in communion with Father, Son and Spirit. I don’t think we truly understand the depths of such love, and yet knowing that Jesus went to the cross precisely because of his love for us is such a stabling anchor for our lives. Whatever storms we may be facing, his love stands firm. We are also told that Jesus’ action reveals “God’s passionate love” – to know that we are friends of God is quite mind-blowing, but these verses tell us that there is even more: we have “peace with God” and are being perfected! May we be open to his refining work in our hearts, and allow his peace to rest upon us today.
Claire Musters
Claire Musters is a writer, speaker and editor, and mum to two gorgeous children. Claire married her husband at a very young age – he was a record producer for 18 years and is now pastor of their church. Claire heads up the worship ministry and women's ministry in their church.
Claire's passion is to see people reach their full potential in God and her writing and speaking often focuses on marriage, parenting, worship, discipleship, issues facing women today etc. She often uses real-life examples - many from her own life.
Her book Taking Off the Mask tells her own story but also explores why, when church is supposed to be a place of acceptance and freedom, so many of us hide behind carefully constructed masks. She has written many other books, study guides, daily Bible notes and online and magazine articles.