Good News

       I may have tried to proclaim my innocence a number of times in my life when in reality, I was guilty of the charges that had been made.  Most of my infractions were minor and did not carry a lot of punishment, but there were those things of which I was guilty as charged.  One of my worst times was in the area of disobedience and going along with the crowd thus ending up being guilty in the end.  The sad thing about some of those situations was that I knew what was being done was wrong, but it was easy to go along with the majority of the group at the time.  One such situation ended up with a poor review by my superior.  It could have been worse.  Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  What a joy it is to come to a given situation and hear the above words.  The Book of Romans can be divided up into several sections, with many different convenient outlines.  One that I have used contains all words beginning with the letter. “S.”    Salutation, Sin, Salvation, Sanctification, Service, Sovereignty and a conclusion, or as I called it, “So long.”  Romans 8:1 occurs in the “Sanctification” section.  The words seem to jump off the page as you have just come through  several chapters of how bad things look and then to hear the words, “There is therefore, now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus….”  When you get right down to thinking about it, you deserve all the punishment that God could give you but instead, you find out that there is no condemnation.  Now that is good news.  We live in a world that is scarce when it comes to good news.  There are but a few instances of good news around these days.  News programs scour the area to try to find at least one encouraging story about good news whether it be a story about a young person or a person who does something in a humanitarian effort to better things around him.  I know of many families who have refrained from watching the evening news due to the fact that it is often depressing to look at.  The first several chapters of Romans could be very depressing if it were not for the words of Romans 8:1.  “...No condemnation…”  Of course, you did notice the phrase that follows, “to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit..”  We do this by knowing what it says in the Word of God.  We do this by following the directions that have been already given to us.  While the world may be filled with depressing news, every believer can rejoice with the words of Romans 8:1.  Praise God today for His Salvation.