While Still a Sinner - January 29 Readings: Romans 5:1-11

We are going to "enter the year with praise." Our January readings and devotionals will all focus on the goodness and grace of God. Get a journal or notebook to write down your thoughts every day. Our passages are shorter - please don't rush through them. Take time to meditate and consider why God is worthy of your praise.

Enter 2020 with the praise of God on your lips!

Today's Praise Passage:  Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Through the Bible Reading: Exodus 10-12, Matthew 19:1-15, Psalm 18:5-11, Proverbs3:30-31

Some of our readers want a little more "meaty" devotional, so I am including a link to the through Through the Bible in One Year readings we did last year. 

Devotional: While Still a Sinner

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:

Meditate on this passage and write down:

1. The character qualities of God for which you can praise him. 

2. The gracious acts of God for which you can give thanks to him. 

Thank God today for his amazing and eternal love that was given to you when you didn't deserve it and couldn't earn it.
Remember that you are loved because of Jesus Christ, not because you are special or wonderful or perfect. You can't earn God's love - it is a gift in Christ.
Praise God for this today.