We all sin and do things that we regret later. We know it and we see it can cause harm to ourselves and to others.
I am a sinner and not up on a soap-box preaching, but perhaps I can share something I learned and pass it on to help someone else.
Did you ever do something wrong?
- Ever tell a small lie when you were young trying to get an extra cookie?
- Did you ever steal something off a shelf when you didn’t have the money for it but really wanted it?
- Did you ever steal music off the Internet and make copies for others because everyone else was doing it?
- Did you ever watch something on TV that was too violent and know wasn’t good for you?
- Did you ever cheat on a test?
- Did you ever look at someone on the Internet in way that was lustful?
- Did you ever reply in a mean way on a post or email?
- Did you ever laugh at someone because others were laughing and make them feel bad?
- Did you ever talk about someone behind their back in order to get others angry at them or to win their favor?
- Did you ever want something that your neighbor had instead of being happy with what you had?
This list is not to make you feel guilty but to point out that we know that we have sinned and sometimes fallen short, choosing the wrong things.
Held up against a perfect soul, we might look like a lying, stealing thief, searching for lustful passions, hurting others, and constantly forgetting about God. Only 1 sin would exile us from the perfect state of heaven, we are in serious trouble and need help.
Do you think there is Evil in the World?
There are greater sins and greater evil. What about…
- Someone murders another person for no reason
- Someone rapes another person
- Some commits a crime and frames an innocent person
- Someone commits a crime against a child
- Someone kills another because of their ethnicity.
These are not just random accidents of evolutionary mutations, but deliberate actions that cause harm to others. It is evil.
Most would recognize there is a real evil in the world and we are sometimes in a battle with it, sometimes directly against it, and sometimes tempted in small ways to get us to accept a little and then a little more.
Sometimes we can feel powerless to stop it. We need help.
Original Sin – Need for a Savior
From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, it caused a rupture between humans and God, between heaven and earth. Even one sin makes us impure, incompatible with God in a sinless heaven. It is a divide that we cannot heal on our own.
If the Lord followed Justice without mercy, He could have sent Adam and Eve away, lost to the Devil for eternity, but at the moment He pronounces the consequences of their sin, He also reveals a hint of good news. They are not sent away with the Devil, but instead will be in a battle against him.
This may not seem like great news, but it is a hint of good news because we were not sent away for eternity. It was not the end…
Gen 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and hers;
This verse mentions a battle between the devil and the woman’s offspring. We can see this recurring theme throughout the Old Testament as the descendants of Adam and Eve are constantly sinning, falling to evil, realizing their fault, asking God for help, getting the help, retuning back to a state of goodness, and then sinning again.
We ask ‘when will they ever learn? Then we look at ourselves and ask ‘When will we ever learn?’
We see the fulfillment of God’s promise in Mary and her child, Jesus. It is called the protoevangelium; proto (first) evangelium (good news) as it was not the end, but the first hint of God’s plan to save us.
Blaming Adam and Eve
We might want to blame Adam and Eve for this situation, but once any of us sins we create the same great divide between us and heaven. By ourselves we can not heal the division. It is up to the Lord to provide an answer.
Why not save us Immediately?
We often ask why God does not conquer sin and evil immediately. He is all powerful and can if he wanted to. That Is true. While we can not fully answer this because we are not God, we can reflect on the question and provide some insights.
God didn’t send Adam and Eve to eternal punishment with the Devil so that must mean He is interested in saving them. It seems that waiting for some time has value to play toward this goal or else He would have done it immediately.
One reason for the delay of God’s coming is free choice.
Free Choice
If God appeared to us in all His glory immediately, everything else in this world would pale in comparison. Suddenly all our other choices in the world would seem small and unimportant. We would feel compelled to answer one question. Do we trust in God and want to be with Him or not.
By not appearing to us immediately, in His mercy He gives us extra time to learn from our mistakes and grow into a better person, working on our relationship with God and others.
Do We Trust God?
Do we trust God or not? How many of us would be able to answer that question well if we had never known failure and mercy; or known forgiveness for our sins.
Time allows us to learn about mercy and forgiveness. Seeing how God keeps forgiving His people in the Old Testament gives us time to see it. Knowing how far God will go to save His people, and us, gives us time to realize what Love and trust really is.
Jesus Experiences Life
In time, God sent His son Jesus, to be with us, to experience the difficulties of human temptation, but without the sin; to experience the sinful nature of people, and the serious evil in the world.
The Devil is still just a creature, a fallen angel. More intelligent than a human but not even close to the power of God. He did not know God’s plan to save us.
The Devil was out to kill Jesus and win the battle, to keep humans for himself where he could finally do whatever evil he wanted to them.
I once heard an Atheist say he would never worship God because God would force him to be in heaven. Unfortunately this atheist was deceived. God allows free will where the Devil will not.
If the Atheist rejects God for eternity, God will respect his free will. The atheist will leave God’s presence and end up unprotected in the realm of the Devil, where the Devil has no interest in free will, but dominance over all under him.
The Atheists definition of God was backwards, but pride keeps the lie from being apparent. We pray he will see the deception before it is too late.
Since Jesus is God, the Devil fails to win Him over by temptation so he resorts to violence. Better to kill Jesus then let him affect more humans.
We know the story. Jesus is captured, placed on trial, and killed in one of the most gruesome ways possible, crucifixion. It was a cruel and torturous way to kill a person and make them suffer.
But Jesus chose it. He chose to suffer. He had numerous changes to escape and never come back to Jerusalem. He chose it.
Why Did Jesus Choose to Die?
Giving up one’s own life for the sake of another is love. Jesus did it for all of us. That is perfect love. Love is more powerful that sin. Jesus heals the divide that sin caused between us and God. By his cross we are healed.
Ultimate Defeat into Ultimate Victory
At the crucifixion the Devil might have been celebrating his great victory in defeating Jesus, but in doing so, he unleashed the most powerful self sacrificing love ever seen in the world. The Devil’s ultimate victory turned into his ultimate defeat.
Jesus Sacrifice becomes the Ultimate Victory for us!
Death’s sting no longer rules over us as we can reach heaven. God was interested in helping His people. He provided the answer to heal sin.
In a way, if we had not known about sin, we would not have known the greater depths of Jesus’ love. God works in great and mysterious ways, with plans that humans and angels do not know, but they are to help us. We have the help we need.
All we have to do is freely Choose Jesus. It is not a fake line, but a real offer. A free choice, not against our will.
Is that It?
We will still have our life to live in this world because God has not come yet in His full glory. We will face some difficulties from sin and evil but also the grace to get overcome them. Jesus gave us His Church and the Bible so we can partake in the journey!
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