BELIEVE AND LIVE

Did you know that death was not meant to be the "natural order" of things. The Life being lived by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (before their death-dealing unbelief) was nothing short of the Life of God filling them, working in them, being Life Itself in them.

When they believed the lie that God was holding out on them and that they didn't need God to flourish as human beings, they did the exact opposite to what God had told them. God had the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden as a touchstone for their faith and confidence in Him. Before believing and embracing the satanic lie, every time they passed it, they could say, "I believe what You said about the fruit on that tree. I trust you. I don't need it, and it will cause me to die, whatever that means. It's something to avoid at all costs."

Satan didn't ask Adam and Eve to do anything overtly nefarious, he simply tempted them to doubt God's Word to them. It's the same lie whispered in every human being's ear today. "Trust yourself, what you feel, and think is right. Don't reference truth to anything God has said." By turning from God, humanity essentially "died" as we were cut off from the essence of what makes a human being fully human: the gift of Life being lived in us by God.

Not only did we die spiritually, but the whole of creation was also cursed as well because of us. We have no idea what creation was meant to be. We were to steward it, tend and care for it with the Life of God being lived in and through us. Sin broke everything. Physical death was that singular sign that sin was real. Mankind's inhumanity to its own and the rest of creation showed the brokenness sin produces.

If we can see and understand the horrific plunged into sin and death that occurred when Adam and Eve chose self over God, it should be no surprise when we see what people and nations are capable of. We are constantly shocked by the cruelty, stupidity, deception, degradation and evil we see being perpetrated by others and us because we have been deceived into believing that people are basically "good."

We keep trying to trust in our own abilities, seeking satisfaction from things that will be lost to us because of the brokenness that sin produces in every aspect of life. We either face the reality of sin and death or we live out of touch with reality.

Think...what is dead cannot undo its deadness. What is broken cannot fix itself. The Gospel, the "good news" is that God has not abandoned us. He has made a way for us to be restored to Life in Him. Jesus Christ, fully human and fully God, sinless and perfect, willingly took upon Himself the sum-total of the sin, degradation, and death of the whole human race and bore the just and perfect wrath of God against our sin, unbelief and rebellion. He died the death we deserved because we would never be able to pay the debt our sin had amassed. He died, defeating sin, death, hell and the grave. He rose from the dead not as a resuscitated corpse, but as the Risen Lord of all, in a Resurrection Body, a new creation that we could now participate in fully by His grace.

We to look clear-eyed at the devastation our sin and spiritual death have caused. We need to let that realization turn us from the futility of trying to "make things work" on our own and turn to God. We need to surrender the whole of our lives to Jesus Christ that we might receive from Him the gift of that "new creation" He has made available to all who will believe Him. Don't remain in Adam and Eve's folly. Turn from unbelief, believe Him and live again.