For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
– Romans 5:6–8
I just want to encourage you today. Whatever’s going on in your life to stop for a moment and meditate on the love of God for you.
Romans 5:6–8 Displays God’s Love for Us
God demonstrates his love for us by Jesus doing the unthinkable for us. While we were weak, while we were ungodly, while we were still sinners. Those are the descriptions of us in this passage. Weak, ungodly sinners, rebels against God, having transgressed the law of God. Having spurned the authority of God, the Holy God of the universe. And we are sinners against Him, guilty of rebellion and deserving of eternal everlasting judgment and condemnation.
We were running from God. And the good news of Romans 5:6–8, is that God has come running after us. He’s done the unthinkable. He has sent his son, God in the flesh to die for us. Not for us in all of our goodness, but for us in all of our wickedness and evil and sinfulness. God demonstrates, portrays, shows His love for you and me that while we are sinners against Him, Jesus died for us. Just let this soak in a fresh way today.
God loves you. God, the infinitely holy, sovereign creator of all. The one true capital G, God who is worthy of all worship and all creation. He who is all-powerful, all-knowing, who is holy and just, and pure beyond our imagination. He God loves you so much that He gave His only son to die for you. Oh, live today in light of God’s love for you.
Romans 5:6–8 Is the Basis of Our Identity as Believers
I think about John the disciple saying throughout his gospel, he’s the disciple whom Jesus loved. This was his identity. He saw himself as one loved by Jesus. See yourself that way today and live in light of it. God help us, help us today to live in light of your supernatural love for us, your extraordinary love for us, your unthinkable love for us.
We praise you though God who is love for pouring out your love on us, even as Romans 5:5 says that your love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit you’ve given to us. God, we praise you for your love that’s been poured out into our hearts, so help us in every way today to live in light of your love, for us to live with confidence in your love for us, with hope in your love for us, with joy over your love for us, with patience in light of your love for us, with peace that comes from your love for us, with faith and trust in your love for us. When things are not going the way we would hope or like or plan, God, help us to trust your love for us that will never, ever end your everlasting love.
For all those who trust in Jesus who died for us. Jesus, we praise you for the cross. We praise you for the demonstration of your love for us by dying for us in our sin. Oh God, we want this love to spread through us today. Help us to share this love with other people. Help us to exemplify this kind of sacrificial love through our lives, through our demeanor, through our every interaction with other people today. God help us to love as we have been loved and God, we want this love to spread to all the peoples of the world.
Prayer for the Talavia Dubla People
We want all the nations to know the greatness of your love. We pray today for the Talavia Dubla people of India. God, for 347,000 of them, our estimate, you know the exact number of the Talavia Dubla people and you love every single one of them. You love the world. God, you love all three billion unreached people in the world today, and all eight billion people total in the world. You love them all so much that you gave your son that whoever believes in him will never perish, but have eternal life.
God, please cause this love to spread to all the peoples of the world. We pray that the Talavia Dubla people would be reached with your love in all of these different villages in Gujarat, India. Please God, that your love spread to all of them. In Jesus, we praise you for your love. We pray that you would spend our lives for the spread of your love today, right where we live, and through us as your church to the ends of the earth that all the nations might know and enjoy, might receive and exalt your love in their lives. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
