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 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Rom. 5:15-17 (NIV)

Dear heavenly Father, I praise, bless, and adore you today, for the hyper-abundance, limitless reach, and cosmos-transforming wonders of the grace you’ve lavished on us in Jesus. Through Adam, we came into the world spiritually dead—willing subjects, coconspirators, members in good standing in the reign of sin and death. But now, through the work of the second Adam, Jesus, we were born again, now live as objects of your unabated affection and subjects in Jesus’ irrepressible kingdom.

As dead as we were in our sins and trespasses, we are much, much more alive in Jesus’ forgiveness and righteousness. As distant and disconnected as we were from you because of Adam’s sin and our own sin, we are much, much more at peace and intimate with you through the perfect work of Jesus on our behalf. As narcissistic and navel-gazing as we were through our connection to the first Adam, we are becoming much, much more other-centered, loving, and caring through our union with Jesus.

Most generous and loving Father, you are most definitely for us. You didn’t spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will you not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all things? You justified us, and there is now no condemnation; you’re sanctifying us, and will continue to do so until there’s no sin left in us; you will glorify us, and on that Day we’ll be as lovely and as loving as Jesus. Nothing will ever separate us from your love (Rom. 8:31-35).

Indeed, as grave and great as our condition was, the “how-much-more-ness” of the gospel has trumped it a gazillion times over. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ great and grace-full name.

 

 

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