While We Were Still Sinners

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

This verse cuts straight through my heart for a number of reasons. The first reason is that we, myself included, can be so hard on ourselves. Sometimes when we sin and ask God for forgiveness, we also need to forgive ourselves. While Jesus is deserving of our all, He did decide to give His life for us knowing exactly how sinful we are, and knowing all of those shameful things about ourselves we hope no one ever finds out.  He knows and He gave His life to free us from those things. We need to give The Holy Spirit the chance to do that in our lives and let go. If He, in our wretched state, gives freely to us, we must take that gift. 

Secondly, just as He forgives me, He forgives others. We like to compare ourselves to others. While we might feel bad about one thing, we think we're not as bad as that other person. But, guess what, there is no distinction with Christ. He died to give you and me the same life He gives to others, no matter how deep in sin their lives might be. Jesus loves us all. Jesus died for all. 

Today's Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for the gift of Your life. You died on the cross to pay for each and every one of my sins. Give me the grace to accept that gift and never take it for granted. In Your Name we pray, amen.