by Pastor Rich Carlson

It’s a done deal, says Paul. Jesus didn’t wait for me to be good to save me. He met me in the depths of my sins and saved me in that state. I have nothing to brag about. Four evidences help confirm if I have, in fact, understood this concept:
• "we have peace" (5:1).
• "we have gained access by faith into this grace" (5:2).
• "we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" (5:2).
• "we also rejoice in our sufferings" (5:3).

If I’m not experiencing peace in my spiritual life then maybe I have not understood the saving power of God. If I am still working at being saved I’ll never find peace. Peace comes only from God, and I need to have that peace if I want my life to demonstrate the reality of Christ.

Being a Christian should provide me with an understanding of grace. It’s unmerited favor. I cannot deserve it or earn it. Grace is all about what God does and nothing about what I do. If I think I have earned even one piece of God’s grace then I am confused.

Being a Christian should offer me a renewed confidence and joy in the greatness, the goodness, and the glory of God. If I am not experiencing this joy then I am not experiencing the peace or the grace in which I can rejoice.

But here’s the clincher: being a Christian should also help me when things are tough. As James puts it, "Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops patience" (James 1:2, 3). The result will be, according to James, I will be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (NKJV).

Paul puts it another way in Romans 5:
• suffering produces perseverance (5:3).
• perseverance produces character (5:4).
• character produces hope (5:4).
• and hope does not disappoint us (5:5).

I must get this message straight! Being justified—"just-as-if-I’d" never sinned, I have:
• peace
• grace
• joy
• hope
• perfection
• completeness

And it all happened, "while we were still sinners" (5:8)! What an amazing God! Amazing completeness through Him; amazing perfection in Him alone, amazing hope; amazing joy; amazing peace. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!"

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. “God Is Faithful” is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.