Thursday 13 Sep 2012

Thursday Reading: Romans 8:32-34

Key Verse: Romans 8:34
34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Devotion:
Because of the sin that entered into the world when Eve and Adam were tempted by the serpent, we all live under that same condemnation because we are all guilty. No we cannot turn round and say that we have not done anything wrong because we have. There has not been any man born on earth (apart from our Lord Jesus Christ) who has not sinned in some manner; it may have been the “littlest” of sins, but we have all sinned. It does not have to be that we have rejected Christ or that we have lifted up other gods instead of God, it could just be that thought that we had about slapping someone that had just done wrong against us – that thought that harboured a little bit of hate…

But the most marvellous thing about this all is that God’s love for each of us continues to stand just as it always has. Yes we may well make Him “angry” at us for the things that we do against Him and against His people, but that does not stop Him from loving us. Just because we run the other way His love does not stop. After Christ rose from the grave He went to be with God in heaven so that He may be there for us! He is the one who is acting on our behalf as our advocate, as our lawyer; He is putting forward the case to God that He, who knew no sin, took on the sin of all the world just so that we would not have to pay that price – eternal death.

What an awesome God we have in that He is willing to put away all of our sin because the blood of Christ has covered our sins once and for all. All we need do is to acknowledge Him for what He has done and to believe that that is exactly what has happened; that God’s own Son came to pay for our own sins.

It is one thing that Christ should put forward our names just because we have chosen to believe in Him. It is another thing that God has promised to forgive us of those sins when we do trust Christ as our Lord and Saviour. What is so very special is that Christ has chosen to go personally to God the Father and make a personal appearance before God in heaven on our behalf. He has not just written our names down or sent an email or a letter, but personally takes our names forward on our behalf. What love!

Points to Ponder:
Do you know where Christ is now?

Do you know what He is doing for you right now?