Joyful In Hope
Passage: Romans 5:1-5
We all have significant others in our lives, people who matter to us, people whose opinions matter to us and especially whose opinions about us matter to us. We all have experiences of when those opinions are very positive and encouraging, and when those opinions are negative and discouraging. We can rise and fall on the opinions of significant others, whether they are parents, spouses, close friends, boyfriends or girlfriends, employers, co-workers, classmates, teachers, pastors.
Who is the most significant other in the world, in the universe? God. What does God think about you? Does God even think about you at all? Does He smile at you or frown at you? Is God pleased with you or is He displeased with you? What do you think He thinks?
In the first four chapters of Romans we learned three things about what God thinks about us. First, He is very angry with us. Second, He is completely right to be angry, His anger is completely justified. And third, there is nothing we can do about it.
But when we arrive here at the beginning of chapter five, the tone is completely different. God is all smiles. The language is different, the Apostle Paul uses words like we, faith, peace, grace, joy, hope, love. What happened, what changed? How did the most significant other in our lives do such a 180 and turn from frowns to smiles?