THINK TOGETHER
Have you ever gotten in trouble for doing something wrong? (of course you have) Have you ever not gotten in trouble when you deserved it?
READ TOGETHER
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is full of the best truths in all the world. Truths about who we are when we are connected to Jesus. When we receive Jesus as our savior we begin to share everything that is his. In earlier devotions we talked about how we share his death and his resurrection. And if that is true (and it is) then we also share in this most incredible of realities:
Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation.
Do you know what the word condemnation means? It means guilty. It means that if you stood up in front of a judge and all the bad things you have ever done were listed for the judge, he would pound his little hammer and yell “Guilty as charged!”
And if any one of us stood in front of God without being connected to the cross of Jesus we too would be found guilty. We would be condemned.
But if you are a Christian then you ARE connected to the cross of Jesus. You are connected to the life of Jesus. You are connected to the holiness of Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus, the perfection of Jesus. You are NOT GUILTY. And you will never, ever, ever be condemned no matter what. Why? Because Jesus paid for all of your sins once and for all.
This promise of no condemnation is one of the greatest promises that God makes to us. And it’s also one of the hardest promises to believe. The Devil wants us to constantly feel guilty each time we mess up. He wants us to think that God is just trying to punish us all the time. Whenever we sin, whenever we do something wrong, we quickly think that God will stop loving us, or that he will condemn us for what we did.
But he won’t. Yes, he wants you to not sin, and yes he will point out your sins to your heart, and even let you go through the consequences of your sin sometimes so that you can learn how to be kinder and more loving. But God will never stop loving us when we sin. He will never tell us to GO AWAY. And he will always be our Dad who will never give up on us, just like he never gave up on Jesus. Just like Jesus we are forever clean and guilt free. Just like Jesus we are alive to God and dead to our sin. And that’s the best promise ever.
Because of Jesus we will never be condemned by God.
With Jesus we can know God still loves us even when we sin.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Sing this great hymns together
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
Just like you I am free from all guilt. Just like you I am called righteous by God. Help me to always remember that God loves me no matter what, even when I mess up.
Amen.
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