Therefore,
since we have been justified through faith,
we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character;
and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us.
You see, at just the right time,
when we were still powerless,
Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love for us
in this:
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
–Romans 5:1-8
______________
Image via Wikipedia
Home's Cool! 
greetings by
http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/weekly-photo-challenge-hope/
+
Grettings to you, too, Frizz! Hope you are having a beautiful January. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you so much for quoting Romans. I just LOVE Romans. One of my faves is “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us,because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,whom he has given us.”.
I think we all struggle with that at times. It is difficult at times to put up with our sufferings or to tolerate our sufferings. but to rejoice in our sufferings doesn’t always occur to us. It is what we are called to do of course. But when we do rejoice in them, we do see all kinds of fruits of the Holy Spirit, don’t we!
Hello, Dear Kate! There is a lot in Romans that I like, and this passage is part of it. Glad you were blessed, here. Thanks for the kind words. 🙂 I think the part that I like best here, is how we can obtain hope by realizing that He accepted us completely, sin and all. We did not have to do a thing to earn His abosolute love. Amazing.
OK … time to get nominated (seconded) by Jen and Me for the 7 X 7 award. Like you have nothing else to do with your time!!! http://iamnotshe.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/the-7-x-7-link-award-thanks-to-jen/
Oh, Melissa, we are all too busy, sometimes, to do things for self, aren’t we. But someday I am going to post all the rest of the badges I need to. People have been so kind and I have been so behind. Ha. I’m a poet and didn’t know it. 😉 (My daddy used to always say that)
Katharine!!!! My mom and dad used to say that all the time, too….and they would follow it with “Your feet show it. They’re long fellows”…and they would laugh uproariously :-). One of our many family lines!!!
Oh, you got me that time! I am laughing and laughing. 😀 I’ll bet you cringed after hearing it forty times, like we did, but that one was new to me and I am just laughing! And this time it took me totally by surprise that we were alike, again. Totally. K
me too! so many similarities it’s uncanny…and yet we cannot be uncanny because we are canners!! 🙂
I could not stop laughing enough to read this to my husband and he has said,”You two are too punny! You would be a circus. You would be Stanley and Ollie.” Still laughing . . . 😀
Amen, thanks for posting this…Reminds me of a story…I rather paraphrased it for time and space, but, this is an excerpt from one of my articles touching on this truth.
One old man who’s grandson came telling him he had found God, and was now saved, said it best. The grandfather had prayed for the salvation of the boy for years. One day as the old man sat rocking in his chair on the front porch the boy came home ecstatic, laughing, and shouting “Praise God” Grandpa, he said, “I really heard and understood His word today when I was told at Church that Jesus said no greater thing can any man do than to lay down his life for his friends.” The old man, extremely happy and thankful that the boy was on his way to salvation through Christ, looked up with tears in his eyes and said; “Yes son, no greater thing can any Man do”..”But, Jesus died for His enemies.”
Bless You
paul
Thank you for your addition to this thread, Paul, and welcome to Home’s Cool!
I know we all will benefit from the unique viewpoint of this story. Thanks, again for your generous contribution!
Katharine,
The way you posted these verses made them so easy to read, in the sense of being able to follow each thought, and the progression of thoughts. I love this passage.
Lord bless you!
Maria
Thanks so much, Maria! I wondered if it might be too much liberty with the Word, but I liked the separation at the natural pauses, myself, for clarity. You would notice! Thanks again for your kind words, here. 🙂