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Sunset, Alaska. Photo by Charles F. Stanley.
Daily Devotion

Saved by Grace

Our own strength isn't sufficient to save us. Through Christ alone, we find hope and a settled peace.

Romans 5:1-11

Paul’s words in Romans 5 might come across as surprising. A lot of people may have thought he’d write about what we did to earn God’s favor; instead, he wrote about what God did when we were still far off: “While we were still helpless ... Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (vv. 6, 8).

Notice the timing. Christ didn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up. He didn’t pause until we were closer to worthy. He moved toward us even though we had nothing to offer—and that movement was the very reason we could move toward Him.

This is the picture of grace. It’s not a reward for people who finally got it together; it’s a rescue extended to people who couldn’t. Paul says we were helpless, ungodly sinners and enemies of God. Rather than use words to shame us, he underscored how far the Lord was willing to reach out in love (vv. 6, 8, 10).

As a result, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ (Col. 1:19-20). Far from some fragile truce, this is a settled peace, grounded in what our Savior has done rather than what we can sustain in our limited human strength. The good news is not that we are finally acceptable. It is that we have been loved from the beginning, by the One who chose to reconcile us to Himself.

Bible in One Year: Luke 8-9