Welcome to Day 1. for one of our short powerful devotions from the 30 Bible Verses About God's Amazing Grace, bible reading plan. This short devotional is about how we are justified by grace. Join me in reading Romans 3:23-24.
Justified by grace
To understand the meaning of this verse we have to understand what happened way back at the beginning of time with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
Way back at the beginning of time, God created man in His image. Man was created to have fellowship with God and to reflect His glory. Adam and Eve were radiant in their reflection of the glory of their Creator, right at the very beginning! We are told in the book of Genesis that God talked with Adam and that he delighted in the voice of God.
Can you imagine walking in the Garden of Eden and chatting excitedly with God?
Then Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan and they ate the forbidden fruit. They lost their radiant reflection of God's glory. This destroyed the fellowship that they had with God and had eternal consequences for us too. But we are so loved! God knew right then that there was no way to restore fellowship between us and Him except through a sacrificial act on our behalf. We needed the perfect, without blemish, sacrificial lamb and God provided that perfect lamb in Jesus. This is called justifying grace! When Jesus died on the cross that made us justified by grace.
What does Romans 3:23 mean?
What is grace? We discussed this yesterday in our bible reading plan on God's grace.
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve, and not getting what you do deserve. Christians live every day by the grace of God. We receive forgiveness according to the riches of God’s grace. When you surrender your life to God and believe that Jesus paid the ultimate price with His blood on the cross to purchase your redemption for eternity, then you are truly living in the grace of God.
We all fall short of the glory of God
I'm sure that you have realized by now that humans are not perfect. We don't measure up. We are not divine. No matter how hard you try to be perfect in all that you do, and in all that you allow your mind to think about, you will fail at being perfect.
I used to get upset that my day didn't go as I had planned it to go or how I imagined it would go. I would try and figure out the night before how I would make sure that the next day would be a better one. I would make a list and hope to succeed at completing every task that was on the list. But at times it seemed to be an impossible task. That was because grace was missing from my day. I hadn't invited God to participate in my messy day!
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you are the worst person ever. Don't think that you fall short of a very high standard that we all set up for ourselves, which is an impossible standard.
We all try to be perfect human beings, to always say the right thing and hope to never offend anyone. But Romans 3:23 says that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every man, woman, or child who was ever born, or ever will be, has a problem with sin. It is impossible to be perfect.
Romans 3:24 meaning
But the good news is that God loves you so much, that He wants to restore His fellowship with you. He wants to be walking each day with you, chatting with you, just like Adam and Eve did before they sinned. So He provided the perfect solution in sending His Son to walk on this earth and to die on the cross.
This is what Romans 3:24 says in the Amplified translation (take note of the highlighted words)
"and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,"
Through the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross, we are justified by God’s grace. It is a gift! As hard as we work, we can’t earn it, as good as we strive to be, we don’t deserve it. Given our own devices and strength, we will always fall short of God’s glory. All you have to do is accept God's gracious gift of Jesus.
Do you believe that Christ died for you in payment of your sin?
Scriptures On Grace
You will find a free printable PDF of 30 scriptures about God's grace in the Resource Library. It has the bible reading plan, guided prayer, and gratitude journal. Download this free printable or grab a notebook and consider the following questions:
What is God saying to you through these verses?
What burdens do you need to surrender to God and trust Him with?
Write out your prayer request.
What are you grateful for today? Count your blessings!
Write out the scripture verse, it helps you to memorize the scripture and store up God's truth in your heart.
Then in the last section of the prayer journal, there is space to record what God is speaking to you through our grace bible verses for today, Romans 3:23-24.
Scripture Prayer Romans 3:23-24
We are called to pray without ceasing. That means we can talk with God at any time and in any place. You can chat with God throughout the day! Praying scripture is a powerful way to pray so join me in praying Romans 3:23-24.
Father thank You that in Christ I have been forgiven of all my sins. I have been made brand new and now I am justified by your grace. Thank you Jesus for your loving sacrifice for us. Help us to truly comprehend your work on the cross and to walk in your grace. Amen.
Join me tomorrow for another daily bible verse and for another one of our powerful devotions from our scripture writing plan, 30 Bible verses about God's amazing grace.
Did you know that we have this awesome Bible study bundle that contains all of our printable and digital resources? They are perfect for individual study or for use in a group setting (Group licences are included for all our digital products in our bundle - a mega super saver!)
The bundle contains our current studies, prayer journals, and coloring books - plus you are automatically enrolled for all our new studies at no extra cost!
May God our Father, who has loved us and given eternal comfort and good hope by grace, strengthen your hearts and establish you in every good work and word. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Blessings,
Karen xo.