The scripture for today, May 1 (5/1), is Romans 5:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Of course, if we do not have faith in Jesus, we will not obey any of his commands. He said in John 15:14, “You are my friends IF you do what I command.”
How do we become his friends? By obeying all his commands. But we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and the wages we earn with our sins is body and soul death (Romans 6:23).
That makes it impossible for us to live in heaven. Only the just can enter heaven. Otherwise, heaven wouldn’t be heaven. But how do we become just when the fact remains that we sin by actions, attitudes, and good things we leave undone?
Every time we sin, we come in the clutches of Satan, the originator of both body and soul death. He holds us hostage. So, God came to us in flesh, paid our fine, our bail, and bought us out of the death prison of Satan. He got us out and declared us not guilty.
But we have to believe he did that for us. What amazing God we have. We can barely comprehend it. It stretches our mind, our heart, our soul.
Yes, it is a beautiful thing what God did for us. That was his part. Our part is to believe it, accept it, and actively follow it.
That, too, is beautiful.