Romans Road to Salvation: Stop #2 (Christ Died for Us)
The scandal of God’s great love for you
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But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NET)
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At first glance this verse doesn’t look scandalous.
It almost seems benign, like a statement of fact about the exchange God made for us: trading the death of his Son — Jesus Christ — for our eternal life.
Scandals are incidents that damage someone’s reputation.
What greater damage of reputation could there be than for the perfect Son of God to lay down his life in exchange for sinners like us — like me?
My sin should disgrace me, yet Christ chose to take my place, to be the perfect punishment for my sin, in order to disgrace himself and give me holiness. No matter how many times I read this verse, I am still awed by the reality.
Christ died for me.
A sinner.
Wow.
Is there a more powerful demonstration of love than this? I look around at the world and see the ultimate demonstration of love is sacrificing myself for the sake of the one I love.
Parents must do this all the time. Exchange their own comforts and desires for the good of their children.
Sometimes even laying down their lives for their children.
But what makes this more powerful is that we, as rebellious sinners, would place ourselves as enemies of God. Yet He laid down His life for us anyway.
No greater love is demonstrated than this.
I hope today you’ll take a little extra time to soak in this love, and thank God for the demonstration of the cross.
Stop #3 is here tomorrow, I’ll see you then.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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