6 While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. 7 It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. 8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us. 9 So, now that we have been made righteous by his blood, we can be even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10 If we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son while we were still enemies, now that we have been reconciled, how much more certain is it that we will be saved by his life? 11 And not only that: we even take pride in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one through whom we now have a restored relationship with God.
Reflection
Today, we welcome a new contributor to our devotional: Rick Reed. Rick shares these words: “My wife, Debra Spering Reed, has been a member of this church for 20-something years and I’ve been coming during the last two years, and very much enjoying it. I had been a newspaper writer for a couple of decades and wrote a Christian devotional column, also called ‘Reflections,’ for 25 years. I am very grateful for this opportunity to continue writing for the Lord.” Thanks, Rick! If you are interested in becoming a contributor, please email us.
It must have been 1990 or 1991. We were living in Lynn, Massachusetts. It was late at night and my wife woke me shouting, “They’re coming in through the bathroom window!”
I don’t really know what was running through my mind as I ran into the bathroom, other than the fact that I needed to put myself between our unknown intruder and my family. It was more instinct than anything.
Rather than pull open the shower curtain and see my assailant face to face, I made some sort of guttural growl and threw myself across the tub in the general direction of the window.
As I did that, I flung my forearms up in a sort of violent football blocking motion with the desire to send whoever was uninvitingly entering my house into the next county – at least.
Thankfully, I met no resistance. There was nobody there.
That awful noise my wife heard was actually the radiator in the bathroom that sounded like someone was banging on it with a hammer.
Basically I consider myself more of a coward than a hero; but, when my family is threatened, at least when I thought it was threatened, I was willing to put my life on the line and put myself in harm’s way.
Paul tells us it isn’t often someone might die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. In my case I was willing to die for my family, though I’m a coward at heart.
But Paul tells us that we have evidence of God’s love for us, saying that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Let that sink in. Paul tells us in verse 6, that while we were still weak, God sent Jesus to die for us. And by doing this, we are reconciled to God, even while we were still sinners and enemies of our Creator. We’ve been talking about forgiveness and reconciliation. If there is anyone I want to be reconciled with, it’s the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Not only did God make it possible, but in fact became our sacrifice through the cross.
by Rick Reed
For Pondering & Prayer
Forgiveness only takes one person. Not so with reconciliation. The scriptures make it abundantly clear that God sent Jesus so that we could be in relationship with the One who made us.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us this ministry of reconciliation. Help me not to be a coward, but to speak to others about knowing you. Those be the most important words they will ever hear. Amen.
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