Romans_8
ScriptureRomans 8:3 (TLB)3 We aren’t saved from sin’s grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can’t and don’t keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent His own Son in a human body like ours – except that ours are sinful – and destroyed sin’s control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins. The Message version is my favorite… Romans 8:3-4 (The Message)God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. ObservationThis Chapter speaks to the privilege of Christians, the grace of a loving Father and creator…and the truth of the good news that makes it all so. UnderstandingThe commandments were set to be followed yes, but God has always cared more about the heart of His people than the law. He knows we are imperfect (at best) and would fail…over and over again. So He didn’t watch from afar or simply let us fail forward; He created a path for us to eternity with Him that is contingent on a heart choice, not our day to day human choices. And the most beautiful part? It does not require our consistent striving for a perfection we’ll never reach; but, instead, that we “simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.” Life ApplicationThank you, Lord, for your heart and your grace towards us. May we choose to live in a way that honors that and also reflects it to those around you – extending grace and love to everyone that we encounter. - ReiTo check out the discussion or to join in click here.