Devotion: Romans 5:21

Romans 5:21 Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I read this verse multiple times, read the whole chapter, and still felt totally unprepared for today’s devotion. But with God guiding me, I prayed and started writing, trusting He would speak through me to at least one person. So here we go.

We begin the verse with sin reigning in death, taking us back to the garden and Adam’s fall from grace. It was in the garden that sin was born and death entered the picture. Nothing unclean, unholy, or sinful can be in God’s presence and mankind no longer had the perfect relationship with God they once had when Adam chose to eat of the forbidden fruit.

Luckily for us, God wants none to perish but all to be saved and know the grace He offers us. He set that plan for redemption in place way back in the Garden (and probably before that since He exists outside of our comprehension of time). He sent His Son, holy and pure, totally sin free, to be the spotless Lamb that would take away the sin of the world.

With His death on the cross sin was dealt a blow. It wasn’t erased entirely because we are still humans who have sinful natures, but it was defeated. That means those who turn to Jesus and ask for forgiveness for their sins, believing that He died in their place and rose again, are saved. We are saved by grace through faith. Grace now reigns where sin once held sway and it is available to you and me. Jesus gave Himself in our place and His righteousness is now our own. We can be right and holy before God because He sees Jesus when He looks at us. He sees the perfect sacrifice that paid the debt in full and we are made new, as new creations, heirs to eternity and children of God.

Nothing we do can ever make us “right” before God. Nothing except us being saved by grace. Take a few moments today to pause and truly thank Him for His grace. Without it we’d be lost for eternity. Ponder that and praise Him for what He did for you.

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