A New Hope

OPENING PRAYER:

Eternal God, let a sense of Your goodness course through every fiber of my being until my lips declare Your praise. You are good; Your love endures forever.

READ: Romans 5:1-11

Peace and Hope

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

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. Romans 5:1-11

REFLECT:

When have you felt most loved or cherished by another person? Who was it? How did it make you feel? What effect did their love have on you?

We’ve probably all met a loud-mouth who boasts a lot about their own abilities – maybe as a cover for their insecurities. But that isn’t the kind of boasting Paul is talking about here (vs 2,11). Have a look through the passage again and count up the number of times Paul mentions something God has done or uses a phrase like ‘through Jesus’ or ‘in Christ’. Like the boastful bore, Paul can’t shut up – except he’s talking about God, not himself!

Paul is boasting in the hope – not wishful thinking, but a certain confidence – that what God has done already guarantees that he will finish what he has not yet done. And notice how Paul talks about the way in which God uses our afflictions – the bad stuff that happens – to build that hope (vs 3–5).

How has God already shown his love?

Look again at verses 5 to 8. Yet, the work of saving God’s people is not yet complete (vs 9,10). Believers already have so much, but we do not yet have it all. We are all a work in progress, but the end is not in doubt.

APPLY:

In the quiet, name the afflictions you are facing. Ask God, by his love and Holy Spirit, to help you grow in hope, rather than despair.

CLOSING PRAYER:

How patient You are Lord. I must surely test Your patience. I thank You that Your mercies are new every morning. That turns my despair into hope.

WORSHIP:

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