So, my church is about to finish up our series on God’s love for justice called “Echo.” I have seen our church break out of their comfort zones and serve our community in some amazing ways over these past few weeks.
I was in my car this morning thinking about songs for Sunday and how they all connected to one another, and a rather saddening thought came to mind. Since the Garden, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and sin forever entered the world, all the human race has ever known is this desire to sin. (Gen. 3) Sin is our nature. We cannot escape it. No matter how hard we try, we will sin.
So I began to think, no wonder there is so much evil in the world. That is what we as humans do, sin. Then I began to think about the Gospel and the beautiful message of God loving this fallen world. I was reminded of Him giving His son up to die for our sins, and a peace began to fill me (John 3:16, 2 Cor 5:21).
Martin Luther called it the Great exchange; our sin was forgiven by death on a cross. Jesus gave Himself to save us. Isn’t it amazing that we are sinners saved by grace, but yet we still sin and we still do evil each and every day?
The question is how are we going to bring justice to the world? The answer is we can't. But thanks be to God, since the fall He has so beautifully been working out His story to bring justice, peace, and hope back to mankind.
We must realize that even though we can never fully bring justice to the world, it is our job as Christians to progressively work towards it. So how do fallen people do that? First, we take the same Gospel message that saved the apostle Paul, and that saved 3,000 people on Pentecost, and that has saved you and me, and we share it. Then, fueled by the Gospel message, we love, we fight for justice, and we strive for peace. We die for the love that has saved us and called so sweetly out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
I realize we can’t do it, but we have hope in Christ Jesus. He will one day restore His kingdom, and we will live with him for eternity. Then, we will truly see the beauty of Jesus. We will know how He turned something fallen into something risen. jh
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hey buddy...i am stirred deeply to read your words. first because I identify with them so completely the tragedy and repetition of my sin is so painful. To survey the wonder of grace is beyond words. To know that you are my son and that this came from your heart and life...is more gratifying than anything I could imagine. stuff like this pushes me toward robbing tiger woods of his irons... :)
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