By Brother Brian Shimer

If the verses in Romans 5:10-11 were part of the conclusion of a magnificent symphony, the music would reach a crescendo like the greatest John Williams’ soundtracks with drumbeats and blaring horns!

Paul, ecstatic with how much God has accomplished through Jesus, emphasizes we had nothing to offer.

The small, orphaned boy, stands barefoot on the freezing sidewalk outside of the warm, lit bakery window. He hopes the few coins he scrounged off the street will buy him something.

But Paul lets you and me know, unlike the orphan, we have nothing to offer. Jesus died and rose before we even arrived on the scene.

Three times, Paul makes his point:

1. Christ died for the ungodly, while we were still POWERLESS (5:6). Tell the guys who preen their muscles before the gym’s mirrors, “All that apparent power is useless.” The widow’s son, Christ raised from the dead (Luke 7:11-16), was powerless to do a thing. Get the point?

The music swells more, and Paul adds, using that favorite phrase with a drumbeat, “But God”!

2. “But God demonstrates his own love through this:

While we were still SINNERS, Christ died for us” (5:8). 

Barabbas (Luke 23:18) knew this reality, engulfed in his wickedness and rebellion, for Jesus took his place. Like the widow’s son, Barabbas was “dead in his trespasses and sins.” Yet, Jesus took the death sentence Barabbas deserved. Have you ever wondered how this impacted the rest of his life?

3. Finally, Paul reaches the pinnacle and the music is powerful. “For if, while we were God’s ENEMIES, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (5:10)

Do you see why the music is so loud? (Listen for the cannons and bells!) Justified and reconciled not just through Jesus’ death, but How Much More shall we be saved through His life.

God initiated all this. We don’t live like the orphan, scrounging for coins. We have been raised to live in the King’s palace, children of God, filled with His immense and ongoing life.

Live into the how much more this week.