Remember the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie and Randy are falling asleep on Christmas night, Ralphie with his Red Rider carbine action 200 shot range model air rifle, and Randy with his toy zeppelin? Snow falls outside the window and grown-up Ralphie the narrator talks about how the rifle was the best present he’d ever received or would ever receive and how he would dream that night of making “spectacular hip 
shots.” And then he says those words, “And all was right with the world.”
For a dude who absolutely loves Christmas and finds this movie to be pretty much the perfect Christmas movie, that scene seems remarkably close to heaven for me. What can be better than the exhausted satisfaction of falling asleep on Christmas night with your most prized present in hand after months of dreaming and longing? And whether it’s a perfect Christmas, a perfect pow run, a perfect wave, a perfect date with your guy or girl, a perfect day on the beach, or whatever - all of us have experienced those moments in life where we do indeed feel like everything is right; we forget all our problems, all our worries, and bask in the perfection of the moment.
I think this is what our section in Romans is about - it is the long-awaited climax to a story Paul has been telling since the beginning of the book about a very problematic, fallen, broken, imperfect creation. And now he wants to tell us about Jesus and the God who justifies.
What does it mean to be justified? It means to be made righteous. It means to be made right. It means that you and everyone else who embraces Jesus by faith gets to participate in the perfect ending…
…where all is right with the world.
This week as you study, ask yourselves the following questions:
How would you explain and define the doctrine of justification by faith? How do you put it into simple terms?
What does it mean that God is just and the Justifier?
How important do you think this doctrine is in the scope of Christian belief? Do you know of any ideas that threaten this doctrine within the Christian community?
What does it mean to live in the reality of this truth? How does it shape your view of God…and your view of yourself? How does it make you feel?
See you guys soon…
