Romans 4:24-25 - "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."
Have you ever lost your way?
When we hear in today's Bible verses that Jesus was "raised for our justification," God's telling us that Jesus was raised from the dead, and is now alive, in order to make things right in the lives of all believers. And one thing that Jesus will do to "justify us" and "make us right" is he will lead us in order to get us on track when we've lost our way.
I remember a time I'd lost my way. I was trying to find a restaurant where my family was meeting for a celebration. My phone had died, and I didn't have a car charger at the time, so I couldn't call for or google directions. So I stopped at a gas station, went inside, and asked nobody in particular, "Does anyone know where Aubrey's Restaurant is?" Immediately, a guy named Lewis said, "Follow me." I suppose that Lewis could've been a serial killer, but, fortunately, Lewis, simply and kindly, just led me straight to Aubrey's, which was tucked away off the road where I'd searched high and low. But just like Jesus, Lewis took me straight to a place that I would never in a million years have found by myself, though I was oblivious to the fact that it was basically right under my nose.
And that's one of the things that God does constantly in our lives through Jesus to make things right in our lives. He helps us find our way. He sends people to us to help us see things we never would've seen, though they're right there under our nose. He helps us see things that, like that celebration meal, enrich our lives, give us strength, bring us joy, and weave our lives into a rich fellowship of relationships and love, all of which are blessings along the way that God made for us to begin with, but that we often miss because we've lost our way.
Friends, is something missing from your life and you realize that you don't know what it is? Or maybe you know what it is, but you have no clue how to find it? Well, Jesus is alive; he was "raised for our justification," for making things right in our lives. He wants to lead you straight to the things and places that you yourself are just flat out never going to find on your own. So he invites you to stop, to turn to him and ask, "Do you know how to get to this thing or place that I need but can't find?" Friends, you can trust God and trust God's Word, Jesus! He will lead the way!
Follow Jesus, and you'll see!
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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