how much more?

This morning at our Teen Staff devo, we read a couple chapters of Romans straight through and as I was sitting there listening, a couple verses in chapter six suddenly hit me in between the ears:

"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."

I don't know about y'all, but when I've been on my last and final string, I rarely think back to: "that while we were dead in our sin, Christ died for us." I mean, I try to think about that-- but if I'm being honest, most of the time I just end up reverting back to things like this:

 - "Are you sure you're even a Christian?"



 - "AGAIN? You seriously failed AGAIN?"


 - "Just give up now, chels."

and my favorite:

 - "you suck, you suck, you suck, you suck..."

I wish I were exaggerating.


I am slowly, most times impatiently, learning to replace those lies with truth--
because here's the kicker:


If we were dead when Christ reconciled us to Him, how much more is He going to reconcile us to Himself now that we're alive Him?

 We were in complete darkness--with no ability, no power, no strength, and no understanding of our own, and then Christ came into the picture, breathed His Spirit into us, and saved us. We never even knew how hopeless we were until we found hope in Him, and now that He's claimed us, we often times don't even realize how hopeful we should be.



Y'all, at the end of the day, I think that this is something that a lot of us as believers "know" but don't necessarily "understand" or come to grips with; and it's simply that our lives aren't supposed to feel like a losing battle anymore. We have Him and His help now. He will not leave us wanting or lacking, and He will not let us remain as we are. Our sin shouldn't discourage us any longer, because His promise is so sure:


"that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6)


How much more will He lead us in the way of everlasting now that we're His?
My guess is, more than we even realize.

-c