April 8

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

April 8

Reading: Romans 5

You really need to read Romans 5, but if you don’t, listen to this in verse 6: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

This is a big deal. Long before you “came to believe” or made the decision to turn your life over to the care and control of God – Christ died for you. He didn’t wait until you deserved it, or had made up for all that you lack. He didn’t wait until you made a commitment to him. No, indeed not. First, he made a commitment to you. (If you want to study the extent of that commitment, I suggest you read our Insight Journal Part III, focusing on this topic.)

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. (verse 7) Is that what you think? In order to get the blessings of God, we better be good. (Sort of the Santa goes to heaven model of believing.) If that’s what you’ve been taught, you were taught wrong! No, blessings don’t come to us because we earn them or deserve them or avoid losing them by behaving better than most. Blessings are bestowed upon us by God because of who He is – not because He hopes we’re going to shape up.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this? While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (verse 8) At NorthStar Community, we like to define sin as living independently of God. We realize that this is a little less cumbersome than trying to list all the possible ways we can behave badly. So let’s reframe this verse in NSC lingo – While we were still living independently of God (going our own way, making our own decisions, deciding for ourselves what was right and what was wrong) – Christ died for us. Note that this definition means that we could be deciding for ourselves to live like Mother Teresa and still be sinners. By this definition, if we’re living like a nun, but only doing that because we ourselves think that’s a good idea – then we’re sinners.

As you consider taking a serious look in the mirror – you can be assured of one thing: although you may cringe at what you see, God does not. He knows your problems, but He focuses on your potential, because he remembers …while we were still powerless, Christ died…

Thought for today: If Christ thought you were worth dying for, don’t you think it’s time to consider what value he saw in you? An inventory helps you consider who you are, why you exist, and where you are headed…

Thought for tomorrow: Jesus…”gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Isaiah 40:29 NIV

April 8
Teresa McBean