“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:7-8
Who would you die for? If I had to guess, your answer would probably include people like your children, your family, your best friends, and maybe even some strangers – as long as they haven’t shown themselves to be bad people. Why would we be willing (at least hypothetically) to die for these people? The answer would probably be because we love them, or because they’re good people that deserve to live.
But what about bad people? Would you die for a convicted murderer? What about a violent pedophile? It’s unlikely that anyone would want to die for them. They’re bad people who have done hideous things. Who would want to die for that person?
Jesus.
That’s good news, not just for those hypothetical criminals, but for us too. Even though we may not be murderers, we’re certainly not “good.” We may be able to present a “good” mask to the world, but God knows us for everything we’ve ever done and said. He knows the evil things in our minds and hearts. He knows the sin that we struggle with. Unless we can be perfectly righteous like Jesus, then we are sinners just the same as any criminal. We’re imperfect people. Sinners. Who would die for us?
Jesus.
Before we ever knew him, before we ever had a chance to “clean up our act,” he died for us. He sacrificed himself on our behalf even when we didn’t deserve it at all. We didn’t earn it. We weren’t good or holy or righteous. We were and we are sinners. Yet we see the love of Christ in the fact that despite our sin and imperfection, Jesus died for us. He loves us. In spite of everything, he gave us everything. That’s something we can all be thankful for.
Prayer:
Father,
Thank you for loving me, even as a hopeless sinner. Thank you for sacrificing Jesus on my behalf, despite my unholiness. Thank you for the love that you showed me through the cross. Help me to live every day in the light of that love.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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