| “…when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” |
| —Romans 5:6a |
We have no ability on our own to break the power that sin has over us. The most natural thing we do as humans is sin. If you doubt that, just watch the development of a child. Even a child only a few months old has a natural, in-born tendency to assert his or her own stubborn will. No one has to teach a child how to be willfully disobedient. Sin is as natural as breathing.
We inherited our nature to sin from our parents. They inherited the nature to sin from their parents—all the way back to Adam, who purposely chose to sin, even when God had given Adam just one rule that he had to follow without fail.
So, it is amazing that God did not wait for us to try to be good before He sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem us from the bondage of sin. He knows we cannot stop sinning without His direct intervention in our lives. The Apostle Paul offers a very clear explanation in Romans 5:6-8:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
How blessed we are! How fortunate we are that God loves us so very much. There is absolutely nothing within us or about us that commends us to a holy God. The stench of our sin is an affront to God. Yet, there is nothing we can do on our own to redeem us from the sin that has trapped us in a state where we are separated from fellowship with God.
This day let us humbly rejoice that God has redeemed us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. Let us praise God and thank Him for the profound mystery of His mercy, love, and grace that He so freely gives each one of us whom He has chosen to belong to Himself.
Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, April 6, 2016
