JUSTIFIED

     Each spring as I plant my garden, I marvel.  The power of the sun, soil and rain to transform a dry seed into a flourishing green plant is mind boggling.  The potential is in the seed and the power is in the soil.  I have nothing whatsoever to do with it.  Except…Except one tiny part and without my tiny part, none of the miracle would happen.  I place the seed into the ground.  Not much.  And yet, it is everything!  My action is sheer faith.  I cannot make the seed sprout or grow.  But unless I provide that one key act of faith, no seed will sprout anyway.  So my action is negligible yet necessary.  What an object lesson of faith and righteousness!  The New Testament says, “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). To be justified means to be made righteous.  That only happens because of Jesus and his substitution on my part.  God accepts the righteousness of Jesus on my behalf.  I am declared righteous, justified.  I have nothing to do with it, just as I have no part in making a seed sprout.  And yet…I do have a part to play.  I am justified through faith.  It is talking about my faith.  That is equivalent to placing the seed in the soil, an act of faith.  The miracle of seed and the miracle of salvation.  They both happen because I had a moment of REAL FAITH!