Today’s passage: Romans 5:1-11
Helpful thoughts:
- We often want peace of mind, what we needed more is peace with God. Jesus brought us peace through His sacrificial death.
- There is no reason for peace of mind if we are not at peace with our Creator. Now, through Christ, we can have both.
- We often want to boast in ourselves, when the only proper boasting must be founded upon the glory of God.
- When we focus on ourselves, our hardships become obstacles that violate how we believe we deserve to be treated. When we see who God is and know what He is making us to be, the trials of this life become preparation for that glorious day.
- We often want people to find us wonderful and worthy of their affection. God loved us while we were still sinners (At enmity with God) by sending Jesus to die in our place.
- God’s love is not fickle or conditional. He loved us at our worst, and He has committed to love us through eternity! His love is a transforming love!
Questions to consider:
- What was the “Therefore” there for at the beginning of verse 1? What truth is the content of today’s passage based upon? How is it connected?
- If we believe that God was motivated to send Jesus because He saw good in us, or because we had potential that needed unlocking, or because we needed physical healing and fiscal prosperity, what have we done to the Gospel message? Why did Jesus have to die? What did God do for us through Christ at the cross?
- How does this Gospel love transform us in our everyday life? If God loves us at our worst and proactively rescued us, how must we look at others in the world around us (Including next door…)? How does the Gospel change how we might think about the command to love our neighbor? How good must people be before they earn your interest and care?