for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:23-24 (NIV)
Justified Freely By His Grace
Two women who work the same four days at a dental office have never once eaten lunch together. One runs the front desk and one does the cleanings, and neither has a good word for the other’s manner with people. Ask either of them who they’d want in the building on the day the schedule falls apart, and they’ll both say the other one, and they’ll say it fast.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Paul had just written that this righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, and that there’s no difference between Jew and Gentile.
God calls people right while they’re standing there having fallen short, and he does it freely, out of his grace, with nothing asked of them first. Boasting is excluded, and grace is why.
The verdict rests on something that happened: the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Paul says God justifies those who have faith in Jesus, and that holds on a morning when you could name everything you got wrong this week and on a morning when you’d have to sit and think about it. Trusting him is how you get in, and the Jew and the Gentile came in that way, on grace that was God’s to give.
The hygienist’s car wouldn’t start in February. The woman from the front desk drove her home. In the spring that woman took a job at an office across town, and on her last Friday the hygienist walked out to the parking lot and stood there while she loaded her car.
A Prayer to Remember
The man I’ve kept at arm’s length for years is on my mind this morning, God, and I’ve been careful never to say why, even to myself. You may well have set him right on the very terms you used with me. Work on me until I can be in a room with him without going back over it.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
