Salvation | a 5-Day Skate Church Movement Devotionalنموونە

Why do I Need Salvation?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Imagine you are skating at the park. You go for a trick down a small set and you snap your board. That feeling you get when you just start skating and break a board without a backup is nothing more than a feeling of despair. If you’ve never snapped a deck, I’m sure you can imagine that feeling of having to just sit on the side of the park and watch your friends skate. Just when you’re at the point of being completely bummed, another skater rolls up to the park with a brand new deck. It’s the exact same board that you have been skating, but it is brand new. Same size. Same shape. He offers it to you 100% FREE. In exchange for the board he just wants to be your friend and have a relationship with you. There is nothing you did to earn or deserve that board, but really all you have to do is accept this gift and thank him for his generosity.

From the beginning of creation God created us with the intention that we would live lives that would glorify Him. Unfortunately, we have all chosen to sin and to go against God’s will. Sin is the act of directly opposing what God has commanded. In archery, when someone shoots an arrow and misses the bullseye, it is called “sinning.” This is us. None of us are perfect. We’ve all missed the “bullseye” in some way or another. Each and every one of us at some point have lied, cheated, stolen, lusted, or done something that God has asked us not to do. If you’re agreeing with this and for the first time coming to the understanding that you are a sinner, don’t worry–you’re not alone.

Romans 3:23 says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” We have all messed up. There isn’t a single person who has lived a perfect life. The problem with this is that we don’t have a way to fix our brokenness. It’s as if we were all at a skatepark on a deserted island and we all have broken boards with no access to a skate shop or ability to skate. As much as we would like to get a new board or fix our brokenness, it’s completely impossible on our own.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” God, being an infinite and perfect God cannot allow imperfection into His presence. This means each of us, because of our sin, are facing the penalty of death. Sin is the crime and the judgement given to us is the death penalty. But lucky for us, God is the judge and His desire from the very beginning was to show us grace, mercy, and forgiveness for the mistakes we have made. In this love, He willingly gave up His son Jesus to take on the punishment we deserved and die in our place. Jesus took our place by dying on the cross for our sins! As a result, God has made a way for us to be pardoned for our sins–and just like accepting that new skate deck after you snapped yours, all we have to do is accept it. Romans 5:8 tells us that “God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Our lives are no different from a broken deck. Without Christ we have lost sight of the purpose for why we were created. I will end with a great quote from the apostle Paul from Romans 7:24-25: “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” I pray that you realize your need for a Savior as quickly and easy as we realize we need a new deck when we break ours.

Pushing Further

1. Do you feel like you have a need for a Savior?
2. Have you felt the weight of your sins?
3. Have you put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, what is holding you back?

Want more content like this? We adapted this Plan from a 52-week Skate Church Movement Devotional Book. Get your book at skatechurchmovement.com.