By Katy Mariotti

While We Were Still Sinners

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 New International Version

Dogs are the epitome of unconditional love. No matter how long you are gone, they are always SO happy to see you when you return. If our dog is being dog-sat by relatives, he will literally howl at the front door when he sees us return, even though we’re the ones who left him.

Recently there was a hail storm and my kids wanted to go outside to pick up pieces of hail to see how large they were. They went outside and were enjoying themselves so much they stayed out in the rain for about 15 minutes. Our dog, who does not like the rain, begged at the back door to be let out, just so he could be with them. Kids and dog both came back in soaked.

Now imagine instead of an imperfect creature like my dog, (I will spare you the details of how many things he’s eaten that he shouldn’t have, or just how loud he gets when he sees any other living being in public) the decidedly perfect being of God. God who loves us so unconditionally that He came to be with us, to be a part of our imperfect world which is FAR more extreme and sorrowful than 15 minutes in the rain. And not only did He join us, but He died for us, because He knew that we could never rise above our imperfections on our own and instead did it for us.

May we live knowing we are loved unconditionally, even while we are sinners, by a perfect God, and strive to love others following His example.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado