Original Sin, Ultimate Grace

If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
-Romans 5:17

It is fascinating to me to contemplate how God has moved, in and through God’s time, to bring us to understand how precious and loved we all are.  To oversimplify things (hugely!): We’ve gone from originally being created in God’s own image, to almost immediately throwing it all away in disobedience (the advent of sin), to God giving us some structure and discipline – training wheels – in the Law of Moses, and, finally, God’s gift in the person of Jesus, to ultimately save us from our own sinful nature.

Paul’s comparison of the actions of two men, at two different points on God’s timeline, clearly shows this:  The power of that first sin (and condemnation to death) that was loosed into God’s world is no match for the power of grace and redemption that Jesus, by his life, death and resurrection, has given us.  What was thrust on humankind in disobedience, strong as it is still, is crushed by the gift that Jesus has given us; to be free from sin, once and for all because that gift comes from the very God who made and loves us, if we will just accept it.  Nothing else in our lives can match it.

 -Chris Winchell  

Let us pray… 

My gracious God, thank you for sending your Son into this broken and sinful world, and for the gifts of repentance, grace and love that mark the pathway to your eternal Kingdom for each of us. Amen.