Romans

I've been reading through the New Testament for my devotionals, and right now I'm reading Romans. Every time I read it, I am dumbfounded by chapter 5. It really changed my outlook on life, and when I read it today it still reaches me. Verses 3-5 gave me a reason to hope during my mom's illness, and when I was still struggling with bitterness about my mom's cancer, verses 6-8 told me that even though I didn't do anything to deserve it, Christ died for me. I struggled a lot with fairness, and I thought it was really unfair for me to lose my brother and my mom, but when I realized that Christ paid the ultimate debt and got the shortest end of the fairness stick, the bitterness started melting away. Ancient words are still ever true.

Peace and Joy

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

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

⁹Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! ¹⁰For if, when 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! ¹¹Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.