80 RIGHT WITH GOD F O O T ================================
- H O L D
READING
80 RIGHT WITH GOD
PRAY Open my eyes, dear Lord to see the beauty and the vastness of your truth. Take my breath away with the wonder of it. —————————————————————- READ Romans 5:1-11. —————————————————————- THINK What might a person expect once he or she has been put right with God? —————————————————————- FOCUS Have you ever climbed through a forest up the side of a mountain? Patiently you make your way through the gloomy undergrowth, clearing the obstructions; then, suddenly, you break out on the summit; you are in clear air, the view is breathtaking, all is free and open. That is how it is as we come to this point in the epistle. In the first four chapters Paul has led us through the dark ways of sin in the human heart and shown what it does to the world; he has pointed out the blind alleys of attempts to please God by keeping the law. Now we reach chapter 5. Look at the view! See what it means to be ‘put right with God through faith’ (1). OVERRIDING PEACE (1,2). Sometimes quarrelling nations make a ‘peace’ which is only a cover for continuing strife and disputes; but the peace with God, which Jesus has made possible is absolute and final. No outside power can break or disturb it. OVERCOMING HOPE (3-5). Once we are right with God everything else falls into place; even our troubles become the raw material from which we develop endurance and hope. OVERWHELMING LOVE (6-10). ‘Is God really a God of love?’ The answer is in verse 8. Questions about God have to be looked at in the light of Christ’s death. OVERFLOWING PRAISE (11). Instead of being enemies of God, we are at peace with him. Now that’s something to celebrate (11)! Praise is the outcome of faith. —————————————————————- PRAY Open your mind and spirit to praise God for the initiative he has taken to win people’s love.