MUCH MORE
Romans 5:1-11
“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
These 3 paragraphs overflow with Paul’s eagerness to tell us that God’s blessings to us in Jesus Christ are lavish and generous. This is not a project that is reluctant, grudging or half-hearted. When God brought Jesus into the whole scheme we must appreciate it in the way Paul described in Romans 8: He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
And so here Paul paints a picture to help us capture the generosity of God and the blessedness that all of us who put our faith in Jesus are now in. There is justification, there is peace, there is grace, there is hope, there is glory and at the heart of it all, there is our Lord Jesus Christ.
If he acted in love when we were sinners, how will he act towards us who are now justified by Christ’s blood? If by Christ’s death we are now reconciled with God, how about now when Christ is alive and seated at God’s right hand interceding for us? If our perseverance in suffering can produce character, how much more when we have the Holy Spirit in us, overflowing us with God’s love? And if God has given us his Holy Spirit how can we not be assured that we will be like him, reflecting God’s glory?
If God is for us, who or what can be against us?
To be saved by God is not about escaping hell or about going to heaven; it is about who we will become as God is now for us, the Holy Spirit is in us and Jesus intercedes for us. Paul does not spell it out but asks us to imagine. Much more. How much more?
What do you imagine your destiny to be? What do you hope for? Remember God has already given you his Son. What more does he have in store for you? If God is now on your side ready to answer your prayer, what will you pray for? Is all this about making you feel good when things are going badly, or about the problems you are currently facing in your life, or about your ambitions, your status in life, your financial situation, your career? Is it about this life at all? Or is it much more?
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”