"While a Sinner" August 14 Readings: Job 39-40, Romans 5, Psalm 94:13–19, Proverbs 20:11–13

Today's Readings - Job 39-40, Romans 5, Psalm 94:13–19, Proverbs 20:11–13

Devotional 

I was out working in the yard and I needed badly to get cleaned up. There was my shower - hot water, shampoo, soap - all the things I needed. If only I could find a way to get myself clean enough to be worthy of getting into the shower. It was so clean I just wasn't sure if I would ever find a way to work my way up to shower-readiness.

Absurd, right? You don't clean up to get into the shower, you get in the shower to clean up. We instinctively know that when it comes to getting clean. But when it comes to life and to our relationship with God, we revert to the same absurdity.

"One of these days I'm gonna clean up my life, start going to church, and get my life right with God." 

We have a fundamental tendency to believe that our relationship with God is based on what we do, on our activity and merit. We have to do enough, be enough, become enough to earn God's favor and gain a place in his kingdom.

But Romans 5:8 gives the lie to that idea.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God does not ask us to clean ourselves us, get our lives in order or make something of ourselves. While we are still in our sin - messed up, broken, dirty, and depraved - Christ died for us. That is how God showed us his love. He took the first step, reaching down to sinners who couldn't help themselves. That is an amazing love. 

It is one thing to show love to someone who can help you, who can enrich you, or give you something you desire. That's not what God did. He loved the unlovely, those who were enslaved to sin. You and I do not have to earn God's love, it is a free gift in Christ. 

So, our job is not to live to earn the love of God, but to simply revel in its blessings day by day. 

Thank you, Father, for showing me your love through Jesus Christ, when I didn't deserve it and couldn't earn it. 

Think and Pray

Thank God that he loved you while you could not help yourself and that his love changes you. If you are in Christ, give thanks for your salvation and your eternal standing. If you are in Adam and have never trusted Christ, repent of your sins and believe.