And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement. Romans 5:11
Most of us don’t break the speed limits when we drive, at least not enough to attract the attention and intervention of the officer with a radar gun. But supposing you did ignore the posted speed, accelerated to 120 kph in a 90 kph zone, and were caught by the traffic cop. You have violated the right of the province to impose speed limits on its highways, and are now at odds with the province. To restore good relationships, and to satisfy the honour of the province, you must now pay the price of reconciliation (pay the fine). Hoping to challenge the ticket, you show up in court, only to find that the officer made no mistakes and his equipment was working correctly, and the judge agrees with him, not you. But a friend steps forward with the amount of the fine and pays it. How do you react toward that friend? How do you react toward the Friend Who paid for your reconciliation with God?
The God Who has established the bounds of righteousness declares that we have broken His laws and have violated the relationship that ought to exist between us. And there is a price to pay to restore that relationship and to vindicate God’s honour. Paying the fine is far beyond our resources. But the greatest Friend that could ever be has covered the cost, at infinite expense to Himself. As soon as we accept His payment, reconciliation is made, or as our text puts it, we receive the atonement. That is why we can joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I say, we can joy in God, but do we you as we should?
When a Christian gets out of bed in the morning, he does so to face a day in which God has absolutely no charges against him, even though most of the people he will face that day are abiding under the wrath of God. That should cause us to begin our day with rejoicing. As we proceed through the day, we find the provision of God for our daily needs, we find the protection of the Holy Spirit against the evils that would assail us, and we find the comfort of the Word of God to assure us of God’s goodness and mercy, and to encourage and sustain us along our Christian pathway. Amid a world of sorrow and struggles, the Christians have a life filled with things to rejoice in. How much greater is our eternal security in Christ than the constant labour and uncertainty of the religious and the doers of good deeds? How much better is the fellowship of the Lord’s people than the filthy conversation of the wicked? How much better is the Word of God than the empty entertainment and trinkets of the world?
To consider all that our reconciliation with God has brought us into, we must surely spend our days in joyful thanksgiving. -Jim MacIntosh