Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

As I said yesterday, the YouVersion Deeper in Scripture – Romans study left out the last verse of chapter five. I had moved on with my next devotional and then this morning the Lord convicted me of doing the very same thing.

I will often stop short of quoting the next verse of scriptures in my writing, or skip a line or two because I consider them a distraction from the point I am trying to make. He called it spiritual dodgeball. I intentionally avoided being hit with something I wasn’t prepared to address. Was this YouVersion’s intentions? I do not know. Not for me to say but I have to answer for myself.

Our God does not avoid the hard truths. Every ugly truth about man’s inhumanity to man is called into play. He covers all the bases, not leaving any of us untouched. Duck and dodge as you might, you are going to get hit with your own ugly truth sooner or later. How can He help us with restoration if we are not willing to talk about those things that need correcting?

This verse that was left out speaks to an ugly truth that frankly scares me. While sin has no power over me, I still sin. It is not sin that stings me, it is my conscience. Even when I know better, I sometimes still make the wrong choices. I will justify it in my own mind but that does not ease my conscience.

I have written and do believe that the conscience is a reflection of one’s heart condition. If the heart is good the conscience serves us well to remind us of who we are in truth. When the conscience stings me, it is doing the will of God to bring me to my senses. Ignore it and you risk hardening of the heart.

Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

We are still walking the shore line and have yet to experience anything that I might have hinted at yesterday. Yesterday’s Romans study was all of Romans 5 except the very last verse which I quote here. Read Romans 5 for yourselves and feel the power of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s words.

As the waves wash into the shore where you are now is a little more than ankle deep. You can feel the power of the water begging to pull you in deeper. It pushes and pulls at you and if you stand in one place long enough the sand is stirred up covering your feet.

I know you have stood in one place, moving your feet, shifting your weight and dug in so that the sand will completely engulf your feet all the way up to the ankles. We all love that feeling to see the power of the waves to make you a part of something you are enjoying.

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

You do not have to go any deeper to feel the power, to rejoice in the hope, to bask in His grace and experience the glory of God.

This chapter of Romans makes it plain as can be, powerful, simple, moving, even overwhelming at the extent of God’s love towards us, drawing us closer to Him.

The power of the Holy Spirit is like the waves. The sand is like the words of the bible. Walking alone the shore in the waves is like taking the time to read your bible faithfully and allowing the Holy Spirit to immerse you in His word.

No depth required.