Fog blanketed our area this morning, Father – another one of the majesties of Your creation! Thank you for keeping us safe!
Romans 3:21-26 (<<click here to read the passage)
One thing that I do a lot on my bus is to extend grace. Now for some things a penalty must be paid – my first year I had a 5th Grade boy punch a 4th Grade boy…he was suspended from the bus for several days. A middle school student exhibited telltale signs of vaping – wispy smoke coming from the seat she was tucked behind and was suspended as well. But for many other things my students get regular warnings – sticking their heads out in the aisle, as well as their arms or legs, standing up while I’m moving or at a stop…those kinds of things.
Repeated infractions can be hard for me to let go of – frequently crawling under the seats, for example – but for the most part, I don’t keep a running ticket of wrongs if you will.
I feel, in many ways, that because God has repeatedly (and that number would be astronomical!) extended grace to me, the least I can do is extend it to my students and others, too.
But God has no hesitancies. As verse 24 in the New Living Translation states,
Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. (emphasis mine)
I like that but where it says, makes us right in his sight, other translations use the word justified.
The New International Version words it,
…all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. NIV
Then the Amplified Bible phrases it this way,
…all…are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus… AMP
One phrase that has stuck with me for many years is a sort of definition of the word justified. It goes like this – just as if I’d never sinned. Saying those four words together sounds like we’re saying justified and it gives us the definition at the same time!
Though I’m still using it, I haven’t quoted from my Life Application Study Bible in a while. Here’s a portion of the study note for verse 4,
When a judge in a court of law declares the defendant not guilty, all the charges are removed from his record. Legally, it is as if the person had never been accused. When God forgives our sins, our record is wiped clean. From his perspective, it is as though we had never sinned. He could do this because Jesus took the penalty that we deserved. Christ purchased our freedom from sin, and the price was his life.
What a wonderful gift we have been given!
Nov 2nd, 2022, Wed, 1:04 pm
