Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2

A report filed by Relevant Magazine.com gives believers some good news and some bad news.

Using data which had been collected by FiveThirtyEight, a website run by ESPN, they found that modern Christian music is very upbeat. Quoting the report, contemporary Christian music is "unrelentingly cheerful."

And how did they reach this conclusion? Well, these data-finders crunched the numbers which showed modern songs used the word "grace" 2.5 times more than they used the word "sin." Modern songs used the word "life" eight times more than they used the word "death," and "love" seven times more than they use the word "fear."

That, my friends, is the good news.

Grace, love and life are words which point to the wonderful thing our Lord has done for us in the sending of His Son. Because of God's grace, we see His love in the life of the Savior. Because of Jesus' sacrifice we are given a new life -- a forgiven life -- without an overpowering fear of sin, Satan and death.

And the bad news?

Well, we always need to remember that Law and Gospel are linked together. You can't successfully have one without the other. This means

* for us to have grace, we also must acknowledge our many sins;

* for us to be given eternal life, we need to admit our disobedience which had set our feet on the path to eternal death;

* for us to fully appreciate God's love, we need to have been in fear of His righteous and justifiable anger.

The study pointed out that today's music, when compared to that written 125 years ago, may have lost some of that balance. In other words, while the old hymns were generally positive and upbeat, they also acknowledged the Law/Gospel relationship by referring more often to sin, judgment, sorrow and darkness than do modern Christian songs.

This, of course, is what St. Paul said when he wrote, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, may I always remember my joy is complete and heaven is my home because of the Savior's sacrifice. May I always rejoice in how He fulfilled the Law and carried my sins, so I may live forever in Your love. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 99-100,102    Acts 17:16-34

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