Justified

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

JUSTIFIED

Acts 13:38-41

38 "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. 40 Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: 41 "'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.'"

NIV

Well there is it, through Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins. This has been proclaimed to us over and over again. Why is that? Do we forget that God has justified us through Christ? Perhaps we have to be reminded because we get bogged down in trying to abide by the law. Well not actually the Law of Moses, but the laws, rules and regulations we think make us a “Good Christian”. It is impossible to be a “Good Christian” in the first place. There is nothing we can do that would justify us one tiny bit. Sure we should live in a manner that pleases God, but that is out of our desire to please, not in order to gain justification. Those lines could get fuzzy if we are not careful. Fear of losing our salvation if we do not act or behave as a “Good Christian” should might come from fuzzy thinking about justification, or just forgetting that is God who justified us, not because of anything we did or do, but because he loves us, period. This can be difficult to understand because even though we say we love one another, we still get angry and perhaps even in some sense hate one another momentarily in the heat of an argument. We mistreat each other, punish each other, and seek revenge, retribution or whatever in order to get even. So how can we think God loves us when we behave like that? How can we believe we are justified? It simply does not count on us for our justification. If we believe in Jesus Christ as our savior we are justified, plain and simple. Again, it is true we should live according to the law of love, but certainly not according to laws of conduct, of do’s and don’ts. But still when we fail, when we fall short of that law of love, we do not lose our justification for it does not depend of us, but only on God. That is not an excuse to fall, especially premeditated falling, but it is a certainty that we will fall. The point is we can get back up, and keep going, because we have been justified, our sins have been forgiven, and we need to keep on keeping on, no matter what. Because we believe we are justified.