Thursday 7 Jun 2018

June 7: Romans 1:16-17

Key Verse: Romans 1:17
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Devotion:
One thing we can be certain of about ourselves is that we do get things wrong or we do things wrong. No matter how much we try to get it all right, there will always be something we forget or slip up with. When we try our hardest to live a righteous life we find we always fall short of the mark; there is always something we trip up on or give in to. That is when we need to realise that there is no other way to get to heaven other than through Christ Jesus.

Right from Adam and Eve (who were surrounded by everything good and righteous) there was one who stepped forward and tempted them. Being ‘human’ they gave in to that temptation and brought sin upon themselves. We, now, are seemingly surrounded by sin all the time and subjected to it through every media possible. So how do we get around this idea we give in to sin so easily?

We need to remember that from the time Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, God made a promise to send someone whereby we could be made righteous again. That person was our Living God, Christ Jesus. He came to give His life on the cross taking on all the sin of the world so we could be made righteous in front of God. So, the choice is now simple, try to go it alone and see if you can make yourself righteous, or believe in Christ and know He has done that for you already!

The Just shall live by faith. We need to believe that Christ has done what He did so we can live. Having faith in that act of love makes us just. It does not make us become “non-sinners” because we are still living in our world surrounded by the same sins and temptations as before. But through Him we can have the strength and encouragement to resist more temptations but the ultimate faith of knowing that when we do die physically, He will present us blameless before God because He has already paid our debt!

Points to Ponder:
What do you do when someone else pays your way?

How often do you thank Christ for what He has done?