Reflection | Romans 8:1-4 | 24 February 2021

 

A letter from Anthony...

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”  Romans 8:1-4

 

Last Sunday night a fairly violent storm band went through town.  Wind blew branches off trees, and the rain poured down leaving anyone who was not undercover completely drenched.  However, while all this was going on, a few friends and I were out spotlighting on one of the farms on the southern side of town.  We saw the extremely dark clouds and an incredible display of lightning flashes that lit up the night sky as the storm rolled in over the town. 

Despite seeing this powerful storm band roll past, from our vantage point we didn’t even receive a single drop of rain.  We were just outside the storm band, which meant that our perspective was very different from anyone experiencing the storm in town - it simply passed us by.

For those with faith in Jesus, the powerful and inescapable storm of sin and death has passed us by.  When Jesus took our sin and shame upon Himself and paid the penalty that we deserve on the cross, He changed the vantage point of those in Christ Jesus.  We still experience the day to day effects of sin; death, grief, pain and loss.  But through Christ, our perspective has been changed forever. 

Through Christ, we can see beyond the storms in this life, beyond the brokenness and pain, and even beyond death.  Through Christ, we can see our eternal hope; that will never be tainted by our failures, or taken away from those who trust in Him. 

Therefore, even as we experience some of the effects of the storm of sin and death that will inevitably come upon each one of us in this life, we can see the eternal hope we have in Jesus.  And our perspective reminds us of what is true:  the powerful and inescapable storm of sin and death has passed us by, and “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.

In Christ, Anthony