How Do We Measure Up?

“But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;

Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;

Let those also who love Your name

Be joyful in You.”
Psalm 5:11

It’s so important for a parent to be his or her child’s biggest advocate. It gives a picture of our heavenly Father’s love for us. I remember the summer I was finally tall enough to ride the bumper cars. I walked up to the measuring stick and just hit the mark. The person manning the stick – much like Barney Fife – told me I wasn’t tall enough. My Dad stepped up to show the man that I did indeed measure up. It was a sweet ride.

I’m teaching a study on Romans 8, just amazed at our Father’s love for us; that in Christ, we are filled with the Holy Spirit to live differently on this earth. Romans 8:3-4 (ESV) says,

“For God has done what the law,

weakened by the flesh,

could not do.

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh

and for sin,

he condemned sin in the flesh,

in order that the righteous requirement of the law

might be fulfilled in us,

who walk not according to the flesh

but according to the Spirit.”

Because of sin, we could not have measured up. So Christ fulfilled the requirement for us through His blood. When the enemy declares that we don’t measure up, our Father advocates in truth declaring that the righteous requirement of the law has indeed been fulfilled in us. Living with our sins forgiven, we are forever indebted to the kindest and most powerful One, and live to glorify His name. Thanks be to God, because living in Christ is one sweet ride.