Romans 5:5 (NIV)
5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
“How can we be sure? In Romans 5:5b-10, Paul gives two basic reasons: God’s love for us in Christ (vv. 5b-8) and God’s work for us in Christ (vv. 9-10). God does not mete out his love for us in tiny measures; he ‘has poured’ (ekcheo) it into our hearts. This verb is used to describe the ‘pouring out’ of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17-18).” [Douglas Moo, NIVAC Romans, p.171]
While God cannot interoperate with sin, he has acted on our behalf through Christ and made a way for this, his love being poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to those in Christ. Completely independent of whatever positive or negative worth you feel or perceive, this verse is how God sees you right now – simply put, God loves you. The liquid imagery helps us engage this aspect of superabundance -> the goal and connection point as not a cognitive understanding or inkling that perhaps God loves me, but as an experiential reality of the torrents and overflowing waterfall of God’s unexplainable kindness and care penetrating to the depths and core of who we are through God the Holy Spirit.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, help us experience this pouring in of God’s love again today, for us and through us to others! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s worship to the song “Goodness of God” by Jenn Johnson/Bethel Music (click here).
– BW