While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Ten-year-old Lyn-Lyn had finally been adopted, but she was afraid. In the orphanage where she’d grown up, she was punished over the slightest mistake. Lyn-Lyn asked her adoptive mom, who was a friend of mine: “Mommy, do you love me?” When my friend replied yes, Lyn-Lyn asked, “If I make a mistake, will you still love me?”
Although unspoken, some of us might ask that same question when we feel we’ve disappointed God: “Will You still love me?” We know that as long as we live in this world, we’ll fail and sin at times. And we wonder, Do my mistakes affect God’s love for me?
John 3:16 assures us of God’s love. He gave His Son, Jesus, to die on our behalf so that if we believe in Him, we’ll receive eternal life. But what if we fail Him even after we place our trust in Him? That’s when we need to remember that “Christ died for us” even when we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). If He could love us at our worst, how can we doubt His love today when we’re His children?
When we sin, our Father lovingly corrects and disciplines us. That’s not rejection (8:1); that’s love (Hebrews 12:6). Let’s live as God’s beloved children, resting in the blessed assurance that His love for us is steadfast and everlasting.
6 You see, at just the right time,s when we were still powerless,t Christ died for the ungodly.u
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.v
9 Since we have now been justifiedw by his blood,x how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrathy through him!
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies,z we were reconcileda to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!b
11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.c
INSIGHT
- How does understanding God’s love for you strengthen you to obey Him?
- How does it impact your view of sin?
In Romans 5, the apostle Paul sets up one of the most beautiful pictures of Jesus’ work on the cross. Shortly after saying that God proved His love for humanity through Christ’s death, Paul turns his attention to our death. Death, he says, became a plague over all humanity because the first Adam chose rebellion over obedience. As a result, every human dies. But Jesus—the last Adam—chose obedience to the Father. As a result, He opened the path through death to eternal life for everyone who will believe in Him.
We were God’s enemies when He sent Jesus. We were doomed to die because of Adam’s and our own rebellion. But God didn’t give up on us. Instead, He showed us love through Jesus. And His faithfulness broke both the power of sin and death, leading us back to life.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your steadfast and unchanging love. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Romans 5:6-11 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Isaiah 41-42; 1 Thessalonians 1
