Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:9-11
One of my favorite books is Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It’s a series of letters from a 70 year old pastor with a fatal heart condition writing to his 7 year old son whom he will not see grow up. At one point the old pastor writes this:
I fell to thinking about the passage in the Institutes where it says the image of the Lord in anyone is much more than reason enough to love him, and that the Lord stands waiting to take our enemies’ sins upon Himself. So it is a rejection of the reality of grace to hold our enemy at fault. Those things can only be true. It seems to me people tend to forget that we are to love our enemies, not to satisfy some standard of righteousness but because God their Father loves them.
If your identity is a redeemed Child of God, even during this most divisive season, you don’t get to play by their rules, you don’t get to hate like they hate, you don’t get to despair like they despair. You are called to love, to give, to hope.
Of course you’ll fail to do that--we’ll fail to do that.
But the wonderful reality is that when we were enemies, the Lord took our sins upon himself that we might know the profound Love he has for us.
Now, you are the Beloved Children of God.
Go in Peace