“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
The grace of God is an incredible mystery. How is it that we who were born as mortal enemies of God can come to have peace with Him? And beyond peace, we can become part of His family. He wants us for His own and adopts us as His beloved children. Why is that? Why would God want us?
The book of Romans is full of paradoxes. In the first chapter, Paul spends a significant amount of time detailing just how desperately wicked all people are. We want the things that will kill us. We harm ourselves by our own desires. There is no hope for us, because our very nature is set toward destruction.
But then Paul explains the hope we have. It is absolutely impossible for us to justify ourselves. Our good works can never be good enough for God. But the good news is that they don’t have to be. God never meant for us to save ourselves.
That’s always been Jesus’ job.
So then, how are we justified? How do we go from being God’s worst enemies to being His prize possession?
That justification can only come through believing in Jesus. Jesus died for each one of us to give us the way to righteousness. His perfect blood covers our woeful imperfection. He allows us to take on His righteousness, to share His glorious status with God. He is the Son of God, and as co-heirs with Christ, everything that is His is ours, as well.
Christ is in perfect harmony with the Father, pleasing Him at every moment and always at peace with Him. And because we belong to Christ—not through anything we did, but only because we have believed in Jesus—we to are perfect and pleasing to our holy Father.
What is this glorious grace?
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