21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
– Romans 3:21-26
When I was 12 years old, I was rushed to the hospital because I had experienced a sudden asthma attack. Something I never knew I had, nor did I think I would get until it actually happened to me. The feeling of suffocating in the hospital from the seizure of my lungs is something I could never erase from my memory. Even more than that, I remember the interaction I had with my mother in the hospital while I struggled to breathe. Her eyes looking at mine, trying to help me calm down as she would try to guide me saying “breathe slowly, try to breathe”. I could tell she saw the pain I was going through and that it was not easy to breathe. It was likely the toughest thing for her to see, and i could see her heart sunk right in that moment. Believe me, I wanted to breathe so badly for her and for myself. I never knew of such pain just trying to breathe properly for hours, only wishing I could take a full breath of air. I wanted it so badly that I began to cry because I just couldn’t breathe like I normally do. That memory is something that will likely stay with me for the rest of my life, but makes me thankful each and everyday that I can simply breathe a full breath.
At some point in our lives, we may feel like we’ve made some of the greatest mistakes, that we’ve messed up so badly that there is no way back to the way it was, and that there is no redemption for the shame that we feel because of the problems we’ve caused. It hurts, real bad. This may be something we are facing in public where others can witness your brokenness, or it may be in private where nobody knows what you are going through, except God. Either place, the struggle is personal, and can be utterly lonely.
Sin is in essence the lack of God being at the core of one’s life, whereas holiness is one being filled with his righteousness. There is a common misconception that Salvation from sin is only for the righteous. But that would be like saying to be saved we must be able to climb the staircase towards heaven to receive the favour of God. What if you are crippled by the legs? you have a broken back? a broken toe even? or if you are blind? How would one climb that staircase?
The sin in our lives cannot be defeated on our own strength, nor is salvation something we can achieve by our works. It is only by the Grace of God. Romans 3:23 says: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. But the great news comes straight after it in verse 24: “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Thus salvation was given to us, not so that we would climb the staircase to achieve it, but rather because Jesus came down to earth to come get us. When we’ve fallen so low, Jesus, the leader of fishers of men, reeled us back to the surface where we are no longer drowning in death, but are brought back to life.
In the midst of our sin that seems unredeemable, Jesus’ blood was shed so that ours did not have to be. If you have struggles of personal sin, or in a predicament where all seems irreparable, submit it all to Christ and may he be the one that saves you from them today. His love for you never runs out, and runs deep even into the darkest places that seem unretrievable. It is by His hands we are saved, and not our own.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:37-39
One Year Bible (oneyearbibleonline.com):
Genesis 48:1-49:33
Matthew 15:29-16:12
Psalm 20:1-9
Proverbs 4:20-27
T H E O P H I L U S 
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