5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear heavenly Father, to meditate our way through this whole passage is like standing in front of a fully open fire hydrant of grace. There’s so much encouragement, peace, and hope rushing at our hearts in this one text. We praise, bless, and adore you for declaring us righteous in your sight. We are as justified as we will ever be. We have full and irrevocable peace with you, only because you made peace with us through the finished work of Jesus.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And now we have perpetual access into your holy and joyful, welcoming and transforming presence. We’re no longer weighted down with guilt because we’re standing in your grace. We no longer have to fear the future and things we cannot control. Indeed, we rejoice with hope, because we know that one Day your glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Hallelujah!
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
Father, you even give us grace to rejoice in our sufferings, because in Christ, there don’t have to be any wasted sufferings. As you take us deeper into the riches of this gospel, free us from our whining, complaining, and pouting. Increase our endurance in storylines that otherwise wear us down and use us up. Make us more like Jesus—especially his humility, gentleness, and kindness; and supersize our hope, lest we settle for some form of quick relief, over lasting riches.
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Yes, Father! Keep pouring more and more of your love into our hearts, so there’ll be less and less room for shame, foolishness, anger, anxiety, pride, and a whole lot of others things that contradict the gospel. We are your beloved children—now and forever. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ glorious and loving name.
