Romans 5: 1-5  (NLT)

Faith Brings Joy

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Dialouge: Our Faith in Jesus Christ brings us to Grace. Grace is defined here for us as an ” undeserved privilege”. Mercy is God’s blessing to be spared a consequence we are due to get for an action on our part while Grace gives us freely a “gift” which we not only did not deserve but could never earn by our actions. Grace comes only through Jesus Christ.

That Grace moves us in our Faith, Paul says here in Verses 3-4, to develop Perseverance. James tells us that patience in ongoing trials forms Perseverance and Paul moves the conclusion of Perseverance here to ”strength of character” and Character to Hope. Character is our composite inside being, it is who we are when we are alone. It drives our Attitude about ourselves and others and that Attitude results in our Actions. Paul goes further to express to us that our development from Perseverance to Character to Hope is not empty but a ”confident hope of salvation” and that Hope will never disappoint us. This is a wonderful promise to All who run to win races every day to build and strengthen their Perseverance of Purpose that God has provided for each of us.