Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Romans 5 and Psalm 101

Each chapter of Romans builds on the one before and unfolds more and more truth about the saving work of God through Jesus Christ. But there are times when Paul’s explanations feel quite challenging to follow. If you find that to be the case today, you’ll probably benefit from reading it again in either the Good News or New Living Translation – each of which simplifies the language by translating the meaning rather than sticking closely to the actual original Greek words. This is possibly a good option throughout Romans, for that matter.

In Romans 5 we find the spectacular statement that “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (v.5) This is where I’d love to pause for thought.

Surely one of the greatest privileges of the Christian life is that, in addition to being brought back into right relationship with God ‘positionally’ (i.e. “justified”) through the forgiveness and cleansing which Jesus acquired for us by His death on the Cross, we have also been granted the full personal experience of that right relationship.

How can this be? Well, Romans 5:5 answers that the Holy Spirit is given to the believer when we are justified through faith in Christ, and for the rest of our lives He continually draws us close to God and pours the love of God into our hearts. He makes us deeply and refreshingly aware of God’s love for us on an ongoing basis.

David Guzik comments that “God’s love isn’t given to us in a trickle, it is poured out in our hearts. Some Christians live as if it was only a trickle but God wants us to know the outpouring of His love.” By God’s amazing grace, we can now experience the endless love of God pouring into our lives like a waterfall through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who lives in us! May this be your experience today.

Life application: It’s fantastic to experience the assurance of God’s love being poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. But let’s take a moment to pray for some of our loved ones or our neighbours to experience this blessing today. If they do not yet know Jesus, pray that the Holy Spirit will draw them to faith in Jesus. And if they do know Jesus, pray that He will pour God’s love into their hearts through the Holy Spirit’s ministry.