Here are three life-changing lists for you and for anyone you know

By Dean Collins

At some point everyone makes a list. Some of us write it down. Some of us keep it on a spreadsheet. Some of us print it out. Some of us enter it on a calendar. Some of us keep the list in our heads. It’s difficult to remember what we need to do without some sort of list. Lists organize us and remind us. From the small events in life, like doing your daily tasks, all the way to family birthdays and weddings, someone has to keep up with things if these things are to be accomplished.

All God has done

In Romans chapter 5 Paul gives us a list we truly can’t live without, a list to help us remember with gratitude all God has done for us. Not because we asked, but rather just because he loves us! Paul didn't write it as a list, but I pulled the list directly from his paragraphs to help us see the magnitude of God’s love, mercy, and grace. Look at what God has done for us!

“We have been justified by faith”
“We have peace with God through Jesus”
“We have obtained access by faith into grace where we now stand”
“We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God”

Just think a second about the four items on this list. We have been made righteous before God through the sacrifice of Jesus. We would be lost in our sin and struggling hopelessly to find a way without Jesus. We have peace with God through Jesus, which means that not only is our relationship right with God but now we can have right relationships with each other. Through faith we have received God’s grace, which becomes a platform we can stand on and build our lives upon. And finally, we have joy because we will experience God’s glory forever.

What we must do

Then the apostle Paul continues with another list. At first glance, we might hesitate to see the good in this list. Paul’s first list comes to us as a gift. But this new list itemizes actions we must do, now that we’ve received all the grace of the first list. I assume all of us would celebrate the outcomes specified here. Who doesn’t want endurance, character, hope, and the absence of shame? But these blessings come with our participation. God doesn’t abandon us as we participate. In fact, his participation with ours makes it all possible.

This list begins with the acknowledgment that in this world we will have times of suffering. Life, even life with God and in Christ, includes suffering. There is no such thing as life without it. The suffering of Jesus allows us the opportunity to suffer with him and not without him. His suffering makes us whole. Our participation in suffering makes us more like him and reflects his character and glory to others. How we endure our suffering actually helps others discover Jesus and experience him too.

So we must not avoid this list but embrace it fully:

“We rejoice in our sufferings because we know…”
“Suffering produces endurance”
“Endurance produces character”
“Character produces hope”
“Hope does not put us to shame”
“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit as a gift”

Remarkable timing, unequaled result

And when did all of this happen? It didn't happen because we were at the top of our game and earned it. And it didn’t happen because we willed it to happen. In fact, God showed his love and grace to us while looking at the worst of us, not the best of us. It was while we were weak and ungodly that God chose to offer his Son as a sacrifice. Here is what Paul tells us about the timing of the gift of God:

“While we were still weak”
“At the right time God died for the ungodly”
“Christ died for us”
“We have now been justified by his blood”
“We shall be saved by Christ from the wrath of God”
“While we were enemies of God we were reconciled by the death of his son”
“But there is much more, now we shall be saved by his life”

First on your list

Go ahead and make your to-do list for today. Write down your goals for the week, the month, maybe your whole life. But thanks be to God, there are things you don’t have to worry about because of what God has done for you in Christ! And because of what he has done, your list each day should begin with, “Thank God for his goodness, his mercy, his grace, and his love.” And second on daily our list is to find someone with whom we can find a way to share the unequaled grace of God.

Your time with God’s Word
Romans‬ ‭5:1-11‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Michael Burrows from Pexels

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