Enemies No Longer

As we continue in the series Following Jesus, today we will explore what it means to be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus. Before we begin, let’s open our time together with a prayer.

Heavenly Father, I love You so much. I am so grateful for the love and grace You extend to me each day. I desire a closer walk with You. Please guide me, and lead me as I strive to walk in step with You. Amen.

Romans 5:6-11 (NLT)
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Consider this hypothetical scenario: You come upon a person you know and love who is in danger and in jeopardy of losing his or her life. You know that you might lose your life if you attempt to save this person. Would you try?

What if the person in danger was known to be a cruel person, or someone who had hurt you or a loved one in the past? How would you feel about saving that person, if it meant putting your own life in jeopardy?

Jesus died on the cross to cover our sins and to provide us a pathway to salvation, even though at that very time, the same people He was willing to die for were against Him and His teachings. The power of the Cross was immense, in that through Jesus’ death, God allowed us the opportunity to reconcile with Him, and become disciples instead of lost souls.

In the scenario we talked about earlier, you knew that helping the person, whether it was someone you loved or someone who was cruel and hateful, would put your life in jeopardy. That is hard enough to consider. But would you still try to save the other person if you knew that you must die in order to do so? How our God must love us!

Spend some time today thinking about how much God loves us and how His perfect Son championed for us, knowing the result would end in a painful death. As you process today’s message, don’t dwell on the hypothetical. Instead, focus on how God’s love is like no other, and spend some time in prayer, thanking Him for this gift. Here are a couple prompts to help you get started.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you always appreciate the incredible gift God’s Son granted us through His amazing sacrifice.

Thank our Lord and Savior for saving and reconciling with us, even though we did nothing to deserve it.

I pray you embrace the gift of salvation granted to us through the blood of Jesus.