In Grateful Response to God’s Word
Today’s Verse:
Romans 3:28 ESV
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Martin Luther called this verse the heart of the Gospel because it declares how we are made right with God—not by our works, but through faith in Jesus Christ. We naturally believe that we must earn God’s favor through our righteousness, but Scripture teaches otherwise.
Justification is a gift. Christ’s perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection have done what we never could. We stand before God, not clothed in our flawed righteousness, but Christ’s perfect righteousness. This is the freedom of the Gospel: we do not work for salvation but live from salvation.
As we go about our day, rest assured that our salvation is secure in Christ alone. Good works will naturally follow, not to earn God’s love but as a grateful response to the love He has already given us in Christ.
Prayers
A Prayer for Today:
Gracious Father, thank You for the gift of salvation through faith in Christ alone. Help me to rest in Your grace and live in joyful obedience, not to earn Your favor, but in gratitude for what Christ has done. Strengthen my faith each day. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.