March 2 – Romans 5:1-5 

March 2 – Romans 5:1-5 

Our Jesus, we praise You, for You are Salvation. You are Hope. You are peace!  We love You and want to draw near to You.  Be with us as we come together to spend time with You and worship You. 

Wow, we kick off our Easter study with a heavy, powerful, hope filled verse! The very first sentence in verse one, “We have been justified by faith,” what exactly does that mean? For the answer, we need to back up to chapter four, verse 24-25, “It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” We are justified because Jesus died for us and then called us to faith. It has nothing to do with anything we did or do.  We cannot justify ourselves or each other.

If we say we must do something to receive justification, then we are saying that the cross was not enough, and thus we will never know true peace.  It would be impossible. Only through Jesus Himself can we get that peace because He Himself is peace.  Notice the preposition used in verse 1, “with”.  It links peace and God, meaning we don’t have peace and calm from day-to-day stresses; it is because we are no longer fighting against God.  And Jesus made this possible by dying on the cross, wiping out our judgment of death.

If we look to Ephesians 3:7-13, we find that we have access to grace.  This word ‘access’ doesn’t mean just a one time experience. No, we enter it and are covered by grace every second of our days.  It is not something we get a glimpse of and never get to see again until we reach Heaven.  This grace is hope; it is continual, persistent, always there grace.  And if we look back at verse 2 of today’s reading, we see the word ‘stand’.  We stand in that grace. We don’t sit, kneel, lie down, walk; no, we stand.  To stand is to be assured, strong. The knowledge of our sin and what Jesus did for us should break us, bring us to our knees, be too heavy to carry. And you’re right, it is and does.  But because of grace, we can stand confidently with strength and not just stand, but to also rejoice!!!

If today, you find yourself downtrodden, rejoiceless, and weary, take a moment to pause.  Sit with Him who died in your place.  Let Him remind you of the joy He has given you.  Let Him show His great love for you.  And find the peace that only He can give.

My Verse: Romans 5:2, “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

My Response: Jesus, my Jesus. You are beyond amazing.  You are too great to behold and comprehend, and yet every day I want to behold You and understand You better.  Let me stand in awe of You, show me Your wonder and blow me away by it.