PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
We know this verse.
We believe this verse.
But do we personalize this verse?
Do we ask, “What is sin?”
Because we don’t talk about it a lot.
And I’m guilty of it too…
I don’t write about sin very much.
It’s an uncomfortable topic because none of us likes to reflect on our own sins.
Yet it’s through that reflection of sin that we realize our unworthiness.
And by recognizing our unworthiness, it makes us see the magnitude of God’s love, grace, and mercy.
We treat Romans 3:23 like it’s a stand-alone sentence, but it’s actually a part of a bigger statement.
Romans 3:22b-25 says, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”
Verse 24 jumps right into the RESULTS… “and are justified…”
And then the HOW comes into the picture, “by His grace.”
Jesus is the atonement for our sin (that’s what propitiation means… I had to look it up too).
And the OUTCOME is in that last sentence there found in verse 25, “This was to show God’s righteousness…”
Yes, we are sinners.
But when we accept Jesus as our Savior, our sin no longer defines us.
God’s gift of grace does.
Today, as you pray, give God praise for His loving mercy that sent Jesus to earth to be the sacrifice for our sins.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you be ever-aware of your sins so that 1) you can confess and 2) remain in awe of the magnitude of God’s grace.
