I just finished reading Romans 5. This particular verse really jumped out at me:
Romans 5:20 (MSG) – But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace.
I love the way the Message Bible reads sometimes. Grace here in this paraphrase is defined as “aggressive forgiveness.” How amazing – grace is God’s aggressive forgiveness of my sin. When this aggressive forgiveness is compared to sin, it can’t stand. I wrote about this a few moments ago in my journal. This thought crossed my mind: “Does this mean that I will not sin?” No, I remain human, and I will sin again. However, when sin is set in comparison to the aggressive forgiveness that Jesus has for me, it can’t even compare. It’s not that Jesus just forgives. His forgiveness is aggressive meaning that his forgiveness pursues me. His grace chases me down to forgive me of my sin. This grace and my Jesus are amazing.
wow.
Wow!!
Incredible thought progression of the awesomeness of our God!
How we struggle to avoid the face of God (because of unrepentant sin), when He is aggressively pursuing us, having grace for that sin, must be frustrating for Him.
I know that He does not have these feelings, such as frustration, but they’re words that we use to describe our thoughts in ways that other people can understand and relate to.
When I think of the steadiness, unmovable and unshakable faith our God has in us to proclaim His name and to carry out His plan for the human race, it is humbling to be considered worthy (by Him) of a part to play in that plan.
God is great.
How awesome is our God that He loves enough to pursue us with forgiveness! It gives new meaning that “love is a verb.”