Romans 5:1-5

Rachel Workman: 5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

I love these verses. We have peace with God through Jesus. We have come into grace because of that same faith. Faith is where it's at. Verses 3 and 4 are a little harder. It's hard to see suffering as anything but suffering. But it does produce something. Without suffering would we even give God a thought?

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John Burnett:  5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, ^[a]we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and ^[b]we exult in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only this, but ^[c]we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;⁴ and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵ and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Paul is telling us that we should exult in our tribulations.  This is not easy to do but to those of us who know Jesus Christ, our tribulations should be considered a blessing because we know that He is using them to bring about perseverance and build character and the result is the hope that we have in our hearts given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Pray for the people who were affected by the earthquakes that occurred today in Italy and Myanmar.  God’s promise of Christ’s return are preceded by earthquakes in various places and things are really starting to move and shake around the world.  I can’t wait to meet my Savior so come quickly Lord Jesus.

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Krista Cook:  5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

- We can look up in hope at the end of our trials bc we have a God who loves us.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Romans 5:6-11

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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.