And Still He Loves us.

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January 8, 2020
Romans 6: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.”
Another Christmas season has come and gone. Our New Year's Day celebrations are now more than a week old. I find it pretty much a rule that after the buzz of Christmas and New Year's Day has come and gone it's easy to take for granted the new life we have been given in Christ. How often the world suffocates our desire to live a life that's pleasing to God. How often it leaves us with nothing but junk. "Think! Think!" I urge myself, looking for some internal resolve against old habits and knee-jerk reactions. "Watch out for the landmines and the dodgy situations! Do the right thing!"
 But even as we slip and slide through life, blowing it here, fumbling it there, God loves us. He knows our weaknesses and shortcomings, our secret sins and indefensible excuses, and He loves us anyway. Jesus is proof of that. He "came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10b)—and that includes you, and that includes me. And by His death and resurrection, He has given us newness of life. And what better knowledge than this can we have in the new year?

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for the new life You have given us in Your Son. May our lives glorify Him—the One who came to save us. In Jesus' Name. Amen.