Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I remember the first time meeting my wife. I saw her and I thought, how do I look? The reality was, I was a 19 year old serving in youth ministry. She was coming in as a new leader. My hair was probably too long. I needed a haircut, and I probably had pizza stains on my clothes from a food fight that I had just had with our youth boys.
Apparently, that didn't matter because we've been happily together for 12 years. That's not the point of this story. The point of this story is, in a split second, my brain thought about my appearance because of the person that was in front of me. I say that because whether we like to admit it or not, we care about our appearance in some way, shape, or form.
How We Use Our Appearance
Maybe for you, you like to use your appearance to get nice, prim, proper, and neat, and you want to do your hair just right. You want to show off your clothes or your accessories. Or maybe for you, your appearance is how you express yourself. You don't want to be swayed about other people's opinions or culture. You just want to express who you truly are.
Regardless of how you use your appearance, the reality is there is an audience of one whose opinion of our appearance matters more than anybody else. That's what our verse shows us today. Look at Romans chapter 5, verse 9 with me. The apostle Paul writes: And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation.
The Truth of the Gospel
The Bible makes it very clear that before we were saved by Jesus, we were unclean. We were dirty in God's sight. Our appearance was not up to God's standard. Then here we read this verse, this powerful reminder of the gospel, that by the blood of Christ we have been made right in God's sight. Before you go about your day to day, I want you to think about that truth.
Really let it soak in. This is how you've been made right. Not by working harder or praying more, or giving more, or serving more, or doing better. All of this is simply an act that God has done for your life. He has made you right. The work that He started, He completed on the cross when Jesus cried out, "It is finished."
Freedom from Shame
You don't have to scrub the stains out of your clothes. You get to put on the robes of Christ's righteousness. My encouragement for us today is to be reminded that we are free of shame and guilt and the power of death because of our new identity in Christ Jesus. Don't worry about your appearance before others.
Know deeply that God looks at you with such a profound love. There's nothing that matters more than that.
