Death Row

READ: ROMANS 5:6-11; 8:1, 38-39; 1 JOHN 4:15

Recently I started taking voice lessons. When I first met my voice teacher, we talked for a long time, and she told me about how she studied contemporary Christian music in college. She also told me that when she was my age, she felt that God was calling her to sing for people on death row. She said that sometimes people wouldn’t receive it well, but other times it would really have an effect on them.

It’s interesting to think about, because anyone who’s ever lived has sinned. And in God’s eyes, every sin is deserving of death—whether it’s something major, like killing someone, or something seemingly minor, like telling a fib. We have all broken God’s perfect law. And in doing so, it’s kind of like we were all on spiritual death row. We all need forgiveness equally.

But then Jesus came, and He took the punishment for our sin. Jesus is God the Son, and even though He never sinned, He suffered the death that we deserved. And then, He rose again, declaring that everyone who puts their trust in Him is forgiven and forever freed from death row.

Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, He offers us the gift of salvation. And it’s not just for the seemingly “righteous” or “good people.” It’s for the lost and hopeless sinner. And the truth is, that’s all of us. We are all desperately in need of Jesus. And this gift of salvation is for anyone who puts their trust in Jesus.

No matter who you are, or what you’ve done—even if right now you are literally on death row for committing a horrible crime—God still loves you, and it’s not His desire that anyone should perish, but that all should come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and have eternal life (2 Peter 3:9). • Elizabeth Blanton

• Do you ever feel that you’re too far gone for God’s grace? How does it feel to know that God loves you so much that He would send His only Son to die for you? If you want to know more about this good news, see our "Know Jesus" page.

• Do you ever look at others and think they’re too far gone for God’s grace? According to today’s Scripture, how does God see all of us?

• If you want to dig deeper, read Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28; Luke 5:27-32; John 3:16-17; Romans 3:23-24; 1 Timothy 2:4; James 2:10-11; 2 Peter 3:9.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10 (NIV)