After my mother-in-law died, my wife and I discovered a cache of US Indian Head pennies in a dresser drawer in her apartment. She wasn’t a coin collector, as such, but she lived in the era when these pennies were in circulation and she had accumulated a few.
Some of these coins are in excellent condition; others are not. They are so worn and tarnished you can hardly see the imprint. All bear the stamp “One Cent†on the opposite side. Although a penny these days has little value and many consider them useless, this one-cent coin would have bought a newspaper in its day. And collectors still find value in them, even those that have been battered and abused.
Perhaps you feel tarnished, worn, old, or out of circulation. Even so, God finds value in you. The Creator of the universe wants you—not for your mind, your body, your clothes, your achievements, your intellect, or your personality, but because you are you! He would go any distance and pay any price to possess you (1 Cor. 6:20).
In fact He did. He came down to earth from heaven and purchased you with His own blood (Rom. 5:6, 8-9). That’s how much He wants you. You are valuable in His eyes, and He loves you.
The word gospel means “good news,†and Romans 5 is the very heart of that gospel. Paul makes clear that the motive of the gospel is that God loves us despite our sins (v. 8). The need for the gospel is because of our sin and rebellion (vv. 8, 10). The act of the gospel is found in Christ’s sacrificial death for the undeserving (vv. 8–10). The result of the gospel is restored relationship with the God who created us for relationship with Him (v. 10). That is certainly good news!
