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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re getting granular about the divine, salvific grace Paul riffs on early in his letter to the Romans. We’re going to take a long pause in our collective amble down the Romans Road so as to marinate in the concept of justification. We’re going to do an in-depth review of how the sinless life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ made it possible for rebellious, sin-riddled yahoos like us to be reconciled with a perfectly righteous God. Because all too often we church folk tend to volley multi-syllabic theological terms like “justification” and “sanctification” and “propitiation” amongst ourselves like innocuous doctrinal pickle balls without giving too much thought to the grief and gravitas they represent. In much the same way we blithely wear crosses as mere jewelry or prominently display it in the form of a hip tattoo, forgetting what that Roman torture device – equivalent to a medieval guillotine or modern-day electric chair, which I can’t imagine someone wearing as a fashion statement – represents…that the King of all kings chose to leave His throne in glory, condescend to human form and humble circumstances, only to be betrayed and abandoned by His closest friends and ultimately have stakes hammered into His feet and wrists so He could be suspended in the air like a human shish-kabob while a cruel mob jeered His torture and subsequent murder because Jesus knew His blood was the necessary price that had to be paid in order to justify – to make us right – with God. We’re not going to skip past the hard facts of what He sacrificed for our redemption today y’all because quite honestly doing so mitigates the miracle of our salvation. So please grab a great big mug of strong coffee and your Bible – unless of course you’re in the hot-wax stage of a manicure – and come ponder the audacious kindness of King Jesus on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard and me.