Just as we set aside time to spiritually prepare for Christmas Day during Advent, it makes sense to set aside time to prepare our hearts for the two most important days of the Christian year - Good Friday and Easter. This 40 day period, called Lent, offers us a time to open the doors of our hearts a little wider and understand our Lord a little deeper so that when Easter comes, it's not just "another day at church".
During these 40 days, I invite you to join me on a journey through Scripture, and closer to the heart of Christ.
Day 2
Our Scripture reading for today is Romans 5: 12 - 19 ...
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned. 13 In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. 16 And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. 17 Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul's letter to the Romans is an open invitation to all who want to know Jesus personally. One of my favourite verses from this wonderful book is found just prior to today's passage, in Romans 5: 8, where Paul writes: "For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly."
In today's Scripture reading, Paul builds on this astounding truth by comparing two alternative paths of life: the old way of sin and death, and God's new way of forgiveness and life. To do this, he repeats his basic premise: there is nothing that can compare to God’s free gift of grace in Jesus Christ which God intends for all people (v 15).
What a wonderful gift this is ... we can hope in God, and trust Him, since He has so clearly shown His love for us (v 8), through the action Christ took by dying in our place for our sin on the cross. This free gift brings salvation from death, and rescue from the wrath of God, in judgment on sin.
Wow! In the light of this truth, what response is left but to echo the refrain of Helen H. Lemmel’s hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” ...
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace."