**Daily Devotional** **September 2** *24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: - Romans 3:24 (KJV)* What a wonderful thing it is, that God has chosen to justify us freely by grace, and not by what we do for Him. If you are truly born again, you will want to live a holy life, as Jesus is holy (1 Peter 1:16), as your “want to” changes at that time. If you are not even trying to live a holy life, then you were not truly born again, as your sin nature dies at that time. Jesus said that if we love Him, then we should do as He commands (John 14:15), and we don’t do things to make Him love us, but because He loves us, it makes us want to obey Him. We must obey Jesus to assure our eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9). We have been redeemed by grace, and made the righteousness of God through this redemption (Romans 3:22), and it is all a grace gift from God, and not something we deserve or earn. The Jews were not aware of God’s righteousness, and kept trying to earn their own self-righteousness by works of the law (Romans 10:3), missing out on justification by grace. The only way that we can be justified with God, is through faith in Jesus as our Savior (Romans 5:2), as no one can ever be justified before God by works of the law (Romans 3:20). Jesus is the only one to ever fulfill the entire law, and earn justification by His actions. After earning this righteousness, Jesus then died for our sins and gave us His righteousness – what a trade! Thank you Jesus for bringing us back into relationship with the Father, as we could never do it on our own. Praise God for His marvelous plan of redemption. Devotional by Pastor Joe W. Green, www.infinite-faith.com