Sent at the Right Time || Romans 5:6-8 || Manna for the Mind #40

Welcome to Day 40 of my “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series takes a passage of scripture (typically 1-3 verses) and builds understanding through its context and connecting scripture. This helps us understand what the Bible truly teaches us.

Romans 5:6-8

6             When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

7             Now, most people would be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.

8             But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

We were weak and helpless because we could do nothing to save ourselves. We think that we have the control to make ourselves right with God and save ourselves from our sinful actions. We think we have the energy, strength, confidence, and boldness to quit sinning without help from God. That’s not true. Someone needed to come and rescue us. Christ was sent at just the right time to make history. God’s plan, as I spoke about in “The Jesus Connection – Week 2,” was set to fulfillment all through the New Testament. Still, it was prophesied many times in the Old Testament. God controls all history, and he controls the timing, methods, and events surrounding Jesus’ death.

“While we were still sinners.” Let those words resonate in your soul for a moment. God sent Jesus Christ to die for us, not because we were good enough, but simply because He loved us and desired us to spend eternity with Him. There are no deeds we can do to make ourselves worthy. God loves us as we are. He didn’t do this because we were good to Him, and he rewarded us with the benefits of following Him. Jesus did this out of God’s compassion and love for us. When you feel uncertain about this, remember that God loved you so much that He knew you were chosen for His works before you were even conceived.

Speaking of Christ coming at the right time, listen to what Paul says in Galatians 4:4.

Galatians 4:4

4             But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

The three simple chunks of Jesus’ life at the beginning: God sent his Son. Jesus was born of a woman. Jesus was subject to the law. God sent Jesus to earth to die for our sins. He was born from the virgin Mary, allowing the seed of sin from a male to not infiltrate him. Jesus came to fulfill the law. He came to show us how to properly live the laws that God gave to the people. To show the true meaning of the laws and how we can live in them today. The Jewish nation had waited centuries for their Messiah – and sent him at just the right time.

God’s timing is not like our own. We may wish for immediate change, but that doesn’t allow for growth. Through my own life experiences, I’ve learned that I may desire a situation to change now, but I must prepare for that change. God observes my journey, guiding me to strengthen the areas that need it and pruning away the parts of me that would no longer serve my journey for the next part of my life. When He deems me ready, the change will occur. God’s timing is certain, and all we need to do is trust in His judgment and that He has our best interests at heart.

Ephesians 5:2 has this to say about the love of God.

Ephesians 5:2

2             Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Simply stated, his great love for us led him to sacrifice himself so that we might live. How we love each other should be similar. It’s the love that goes beyond the affection of self-sacrificing service. A love willing to put one’s life on the line for the protection of others or a love willing to listen to one’s burdens at 3 a.m. is a love that allows for sacrifice and compassion to coexist.

John 3:16 shows us the prime example of God’s great love for us.

John 3:16

16           “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

God’s love is not self-serving or stagnant. It reaches out and draws others in. In this verse, God sets the standard for true love and the foundation for all relationships: When you love someone deeply, you are willing to give to them freely, even to the point of self-sacrifice. God paid the highest price He could pay: the death of His Son. Jesus accepted our punishment, paid the price for our sins, and then offered us the new life that He had purchased for us.

When we share the Good News of Jesus with others, our love must be like Jesus’ – willing to give up on our comfort and security so that others might join us in receiving God’s love. This isn’t easy, and this isn’t immediate. This is something that takes time, effort, and intentionality. I’ve had some form of this discussion about how to teach the Bible to kids and youth. It’s not easy to share the Word of God with them because they don’t have the experiences and knowledge I do to connect with them. I can teach about it, but knowledge does not equate to experience. I’d instead share an experience and environment that showcases what the love of God looks like and encourage them to emulate it in their communities. It has a scriptural foundation, which we can connect with better because they have the experience of living out what the Scriptures say.

Some people are not interested in eternal life for various reasons. You can plant the seed, but you can’t force the seed to grow. You can help them water the seed but can’t force them to do it. You can encourage them to pull the weeds but can’t force them. The message of sharing eternal life is about saying that this new reality is perfect. Our eternal life has no death, sickness, enemies, evil, or sin. It’s not a continuation of life as we know it, but it’s a more impactful version of our Christian life.

When we don’t know Jesus, we make choices as though this life is all there is. We can’t imagine the bad parts of life being eliminated or redeemed into something excellent and outstanding. In reality, eternality can be crazy different from the life we have. Ask Jesus for the new life he offers and follow his ways to obtain it. After that, you will begin to look at all that happens to you from an eternal perspective, and you will begin to truly enjoy loving others for the rest of your earthly life.

To wrap this thought up, believing is more than giving our intellectual agreement Jesus is God. Believing in God is more than just acknowledging the core facets of the Christian belief structure. It means putting trust in God so that he can save us confidently from the bondage of sin and guide us toward the path of eternal life. It means we put Jesus in charge of the plans we already created to see if they still need to be the plan and to ensure it leads to eternality. Believing is trusting his teachings as reliable and relying on him for the power to change.

1 John 4:10

10           This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Nothing sinful or evil exists in God’s presence. Because God is perfect, he cannot exist with, overlook, condone, or excuse sin as though it never happened. God doesn’t turn a blind eye to the evil of the world. God is charging up many people within the world to help fix the world of its current evil and lead people to continue these good works in their communities. It’s easy to say that God is allowing or causing evil to occur, but this is far from the truth. Evil happens due to human nature, life interactions, and random luck. Yet, we are called as Christians to fight this good fight. How will you fight today?

Father God, thank you for sending Christ at the right time. Your timing is far greater than anything we can ever comprehend. Yet, we get so frustrated when your time doesn’t align with ours. Please help us be patient and lean on the plan you set before. You love us so much, and we need to trust in you entirely. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.