Devotional
Conviction: Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” What a bummer, right? We’re all sinners. We were born into it, and we can’t escape it. All of us are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives that God wills for us, and that’s why we need a Savior. Plain and simple. And if that’s not bad enough, the first part of Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death. . .” We are all convicted of sin, and our sentence is death.
BUT (and this is a huge but, maybe one of the biggest buts in the Bible).
Keep on reading the last half of Romans 6:23, “. . . but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Can I get an Amen?!?!
In fact, why don’t you roll back to Romans chapter 3 and see what verses 23 AND 24 have for you? “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” – Romans 3:23-24
So let’s get this all ironed out. We are sinners. Our punishment for our sin is death, eternal death, death without Heaven. BUT, God has given us His grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Through Jesus, God’s only Son, through His death on the cross, we have been given the gift of eternal life in Heaven with God! Jesus took our sin, and the punishment of our sin, death. If we believe in Him, if we accept Him as our Savior, we are accepting God’s gift and receiving His forgiveness. Our sin brings us death, but Jesus brings us life.
And just in case you need some proof that God does love you, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8
** I encourage you to use these passages from God’s Word as a resource in your daily life. Don’t let this truth just rest on this tag or on this shirt. Use it! Let it become a part of you, let the scripture be written on your heart and move you to live your life in obedience to God out of love. Dive into God’s Word, spend time with Him in prayer, connect with other believers, live for Jesus who died for your sins and rose again! **
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