Rom - So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. NLT
After reading this particular scripture, six simple words stand out- and bring me a great deal of hope in my life. Sin brings death, grace brings life. Death entered into the world through Adam who sinned. Death from that sin will remain until Christ comes again.* How would you live if the few years you were alive were all you had? Would you party hardy like there’s no tomorrow, or would you work harder to change the world? Either way, does it matter because in the end that would be all there was to your life… What a depressing thought! But… that is not the end, for Jesus Christ made a way for death to be defeated. So, by the grace of God we have the opportunity for eternal life with Him. That is our hope for the future. This part of our journey isn’t all we get. We do not end when our flesh is buried. If we know Christ Jesus, and He knows us, then we will spend eternity with Him in a place where death no longer rules, grief, vehement cries of distress, and labour with pain and fatigue or that oppresses the body or mind shall all pass away.* Woohoo!!! What an exciting thought! (Sometimes even hard to imagine…)
Hope keeps me going. The hope of being with my beloved Father, my beloved Savior, and my beloved Spirit keeps my feet advancing on my journey daily. Yes, my first response to a storm may still be to quickly retreat, but I remember that hope set before me, come out of hiding and move forward again.
Sin brings death, but God brings me life.
Lord, I look forward to that life, for I have no hope except in You.
(Ps. 25:5b TLB)
(Ps. 25:5b TLB)
*Rev. 21:4- And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.