“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Romans 5:1
I keep waking up with this song on my mind and in particular the chorus. Justified, oh blessed thought…
The word “justified” means: to pardon and clear from guilt. This is why the word is on my mind and causes me peace. To continue Noah Webster’s definition further; I am accepted as righteous on account of the merits of the Savior, or by the application of Christ’s atonement to the offender.
Complete in Thee! No work of mine
May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine;
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And I am now complete in Thee!
This means when I was 12 and understood that I could not be justified by my good works, that I confessed my sin to God and called on Jesus to stand for me so that I could be justified. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5:9)
Complete in Thee! No more shall sin,
Thy grace hath conquered, reign within;
Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee,
And I shall stand complete in Thee!
Salvation brings the grace of God and a peace that the world does not have. The world cannot understand this peace and joy we have, either. Philippians 4:7 describes this well. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Complete in Thee! Each want supplied,
And no good thing to me denied;
Since Thou my portion, Lord, wilt be,
I ask no more, complete in Thee!
Now that I’m living for Christ, I can see how my needs are always supplied. They may not come when I want and I may not get my wants fulfilled but He is taking care of us daily. That care isn’t just physical either. He daily supplies us with the mental, physical and spiritual needs we desire. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
Dear Savior, when before Thy bar
All tribes and tongues assembled are,
Among Thy chosen will I be,
At Thy right hand, complete in Thee!
Being justified and living out that faith means that heaven is going to be a sweet reunion. Not only will we see our loved ones who are there already but we will meet the One Who sacrificed all for us to have this justification! We will truly be complete in Jesus. Paul said it best in Hebrews 10:10. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” By all, he means believers in Christ. We have been sanctified and redeemed and so we can sing loudly the chorus to this song!
Yea, justified! O blessed thought!
And sanctified! Salvation wrought!
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And glorified, I too, shall be!
Justified and sanctified and then one day glorified. I can think of no better start to my day than to remember the words of this song as soon as I wake up. They bring hope, joy and peace for whatever is going to happen during my day!
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
Psalm 84:11