JUNE

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

 

For my mom - the one who taught me that Jesus' love is greater than shame & is a connoisseur of all things lemon.

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with shame.  Shame that says “I am bad.”  Shame that intertwines with my identity and seeks to choke out life.

This verse is one that I sometimes pray and with the same breath echo “I want to believe, help my unbelief.”

I've often heard the saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  And while I can see the merit of such a saying, I must admit I prefer my mom's way of looking at things: 

"When life gives you lemons, what will you do with it?

Make lemonade? Stay sour? Turn it into a cake? Hide it away to grow mold in the back of the fridge? When life gives you lemons, you have the ability to choose what to do with it."

When things happen to us or when we sin, we have the ability to choose or reject Christ’s forgiveness.  The truth of the matter is that we all sin & Christ died for all.  He already knew your sins & He still chose to die for you.

"This righteousness [of God] is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." - Romans 3:22-24

Our verse this month starts with the word “therefore.”  I’ve often asked myself when reading “what’s the therefore there for?”  If we back up to Romans 7:21-25, we find our answer.

 “So I [Paul] find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

Wow! I can relate to Paul so much in his struggle with the flesh.  The struggle was there, but it was covered in grace.  Because of our Lord Jesus Christ there is no condemnation!

"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood- to be received by faith.  He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance HE had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." -Romans 3:25-26

I once heard Mike Donehey say, “What if we are not struggling to be free? What if, because of Jesus, we are free to struggle?”

Printable!

One thing my mom and I like to do together is color.  In honor of her, I'm providing a link to a color page!  Please note: this is not my image.

Click Here!

There is crazy grace from an entirely Holy God.  You get to choose to accept or reject His forgiveness.  I pray you accept it even if it’s coupled with the prayer “I want to believe, help my unbelief.”  He is so willing.  He loves you dearly, my friend.