Romans 3: Salvation

^"20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

 ²¹But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:20-26 NIV)

Yay! The hopeful turn-around I was telling you about!  

The first part of Romans, is much like the first part of this chapter. It discusses the sinful nature of people and how none of us is perfect. None of us can even really be declared "good" people. Because of this, none of us deserve the amazing gift of eternal life in Heaven, living alongside a perfect God. However, the above verses can give us hope.

No, we're not perfect. Because of that, the previous idea of living according to the Law (in other words, trying to be "good enough" to get into Heaven by following "the rules") was burdensome and impossible. God saw this and as a result He sent his Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life for us... and to sacrifice that perfect life to take our place in receiving our deserved punishment. 

The "rules" have their place. As it's written in verse 20, people become aware of how terrible they are by understanding what the "rules" are... and realizing just how many they break on a daily basis. The laws do not save anyone in and of themselves, but they do make people aware of the fact that they need saving. By looking at the rules God expects of us, we realize that NONE of us has lived up to His rules...not a single person. 

This is why Jesus is so important to our Salvation. He lived by all the rules, as only God's Son could. But he didn't just take his free ticket into Heaven and leave us to fend for ourselves. No, instead He allowed God to give Him the punishment that everyone else deserved. By doing so, we are able to still have the chance to go to Heaven... we only need to believe and accept that Jesus did indeed settle our debts. Anyone who believes that Jesus came to earth, died for our sins, and rose again, gets a fancy stamp placed across their record... "PAID IN FULL". However, those who choose not to believe and refuse to hand over their record will not be allowed into Heaven. They made their choice. God can not have sinful people wandering around Heaven. If people don't get their sinful debts settled while still in this life, it's too late. 

This is why God practices "forbearance" with us. This is basically a fancy word that means He's delaying our judgement. We all deserve to be punished for the terrible things we do. However, God has chosen to delay punishment so that we might have the chance to make things right. So that we would have the opportunity to ask for forgiveness and to accept Christ. If God wasn't such a patient God, we'd all be doomed. 

As someone who is notoriously short on patience sometimes, I am amazed and so thankful for God's patience with me. I know I get extremely frustrated and angry at people who make the same stupid mistakes over and over and over again. However, I also make stupid mistakes repeatedly. Fortunately for me, God is a lot more patient with me than I tend to be with other people. I am thankful that God has given me a way to be forgiven. I am thankful that God gave me the chance to ask Jesus for help. To believe.

It's so simple. And yet two-thirds of the world still chooses to ignore Christ. Two-thirds of the world has crumpled their record of sins to their chest and refuses to let Christ have them. They refuse to have their debts settled and their sins "paid in full". People don't understand... God doesn't send people to Hell, people choose to go to Hell. All God requires of us is to believe and accept what Jesus did for us. The amazing gift He gave to us. 

Would we really be surprised if we were never allowed into a person's house if, after they gave us an EXTREMELY expensive gift---say, perhaps, a house, free and clear---we chose to destroy the gift? We walked up to that house, lit it on fire, and watched it burn to the ground? It's quite simple. All God asks of us is that we accept the gift He's given us and be thankful for it. None of us deserve that gift, but all of us are offered it. 

I don't know about you, but this imperfect Stumbler has a lot of debts that need settling. I am extremely thankful that Jesus has paid my debts for me. I hope I can live a life from now on that is good and doesn't incur anymore sins. I don't want to tarnish the gift I've been given by taking it for granted. 




Thank you, God for your Son. Thank you, Jesus, for your generosity.