Therefore...

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! 

(Rom 8:1) 

A sinner's greatest hope! The best news there ever was!!! ... Why? 

Because [God] made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him!(II Cor 5:21) Because, though [Christ Jesus] was rich, yet for [our] sake He became poor, so that [we] through His poverty might become rich! (II Cor 8:9) ...

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, GOD DID: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who did not walk according to the Spirit!!! (Rom 8:3-4)

What then? 

We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purposes. ... What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ... God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom 8:28, 31, 33-35)

So, the result is this...

... In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!!!! (Rom 8:37-39)

I must say when my heart is dull, empty, & my ways have been focused primarily on me, or as Paul would say, when I am living according to the flesh, the one thing ... the only thing ... that can redirect my eyes, my heart, my mind, my motivations, my desires, my passions, & my life is hands down the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord!!! Sometimes, it can take a while & other times it happens fast, but it is, each and every time, as if a flood of joy & contentment rips through my heart, rejuvenating the "self" stricken motivations in me, to re-orient them toward God. For, we know that those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit (Rom 8:5), for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set [us] free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2). But because the mind set of the flesh is death, hostile toward God, is not and cannot be subjected to the law of God, and cannot please God, the person who has set their motives toward self, or the flesh, is dull, empty, and DEAD!

That is how I have recently been.

But the Lord is gracious, & I hope to continually ask the Lord, Be gracious to me, O Lord, be gracious to me! (Ps 123), & when He pours out grace upon grace things happen - mindsets change, hearts are renewed, and motives purified. That is why the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, and the life lived by the power of the Spirit is putting to death the deeds of the body (Rom 8:7, 13).

Sandra McCracken's song, Grace Upon Grace rings so true, especially now!

In every station, new trials and new troubles
Call for more grace than I can afford
Where can I go but to my dear Savior
For mercy that pours from boundless stores.

Grace upon grace, every sin repaired
Every void restored, you will find Him there
In every turning He will prepare you
With grace upon grace

He made a way for the fallen to rise
Perfect in glory and sacrifice
In sweet communion my need He supplies
He saves and keeps and guards my life

Grace upon grace, every sin repaired

Every void restored, you will find Him there

In every turning He will prepare you

With grace upon grace

To Thee I run now with great expectation
To honor You with trust like a child
My hopes and desires seek a new destination
and all that You ask Your grace will provide.

That last line in amazing, for the highest calling, the one that is most unattainable for me is "Be holy as I am holy." But all that He asks, is provided for in His grace. All expectation upon me from God is fulfilled in Christ! Therefore I am free - BY NO MEANS to sin ... but rather free to ENJOY LOVING GOD as He loves me! It is the joy of His love by which my soul is freed, and He poured that infinite love out upon His son who hung & died upon that old rugged cross, bearing the full wrath of a God zealous for His holiness and glory to be upheld and exalted, for the sake that in the salvation of man - in the salvation of me - God may receive the utmost glory.

Oh to live and to love God at all times ... I have no higher calling!