Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

Best News Ever: Find Your Happiness

The Declaration of Independence for the United States of America says our Creator has given us rights, including the pursuit of happiness. For almost 250 years, Americans have been in the pursuit of happiness. You would think we would have found it by now, but we haven’t.

Many Americans are stressed and depressed. There’s an attitude of pessimism, defeat, and despair. The top mental health complaint in the United States is anxiety. The Centers for Disease Control has reported that 40 percent of Americans have at least one medical or behavioral health condition. Making matters worse was the 2020 US presidential election, which saw a 30 percent surge in mental health apps.

Even pastors have been affected by this defeatist mentality. As of November 2020, one in five churches is looking at dying and closing, and one in three pastors is looking at quitting. If the people who teach the Bible don’t have any hope, what are we supposed to do? What hope is there for everyone else?

In the opening verses of Romans chapter 5, the apostle Paul tells us we can have “peace” and “rejoice” in “hope.” How is this possible? The Word knows some things that the world does not. To make sense of our lives and infuse meaning and purpose into them, we need Someone and Something bigger than us who rules over our lives. That Someone is “our Lord Jesus Christ.” That Something is “access by faith into this grace.”

Once we know that Jesus reigns over our lives and rains down grace, then everything changes because of three things Jesus changes:

1. Jesus changes your identity. Jesus justifies you, taking you from unrighteousness to righteousness solely by His grace. God declares you acceptable, holy, right, and righteous in His sight, and this declaration is unchangeable. You can depend on it for all eternity!

2. Jesus changes your relationship with God. Before you trust in Jesus, you are at war with God because of sin. Once you receive Jesus, you surrender and have peace with God. Sometimes we don’t have peace because we have refused to surrender. If we willingly surrender, then we will have God’s peace, which “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

3. Jesus changes your emotions. Despite the very real hardships of life, we can “rejoice in hope” because we have “access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (v. 2). You need more grace to have hope and to proceed forward with the life God has given you. Our God is a God of grace, and He will be faithful to dispense His grace in your moment of need. (Continued on Day 106 ...)

Today’s Reflection

How can you have peace and hope amid turmoil?