Which is Easier to Believe?
Posted by Jeffrey Smith February 23rd, 2016 2,332 Views 0 Comments
Romans 5:15-16: But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin. The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses, and brought justification.
It is no doubt, Adam and Eve blew it for us all. If they hadn't listened to the enemy in the garden, we would be in blissful contentment, yet it happened. Out of Adam's sin, we all lost the enormous gift of wandering the land of paradise. God the Father was there also walking in the same place along with Adam. What a glorious place that sounds like. We could have had it all.
We cannot sit around and think about the haunting mistake of Adam, shaking our fists in the air at the injustice of being locked out of the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve didn't know about good or evil, but after listening to the enemy and eating from the tree of knowledge, their eyes were opened to their own nakedness. They even felt fear from hearing God calling to them ( see Genesis 3)! Does that sound familiar to you?
When we do something we shouldn't, we can often look to cover up our vulnerabilities. We look for any fig leaf and run away from God, even if He is calling to us! We all have that sin knowledge in us from the beginning. When we focus on our sin, we look at ways that we can take care of it on our own outside of God. When we focus on Jesus, the knowledge of good and evil lose power of our lives.
Through Jesus, an even larger veil has been removed from our eyes. When we find ourselves in Jesus, we no longer have to be consumed with good and evil. Through Jesus, that has been removed. Do we need to be sin conscience anymore? No, we need to be conscience of Jesus. He removed the sin once and for all for our justification. We are truly justified through Jesus, and not our knowledge, righteousness, or works.
The more we focus on Jesus, and the less we focus on sin, the closer to the garden of Eden we get in this life. In fact, when we switch our mindset, we will reign in life, just as it was intended for Adam. Romans 5:17 says: For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
We will reign in this life through Jesus. Jesus eradicated the curse that was placed on Adam from his one sin. The only thing that we have to do, is eat from the fruit of His sacrifice.
The enemy is just as crafty today as he was in the garden of Eden. Yet we have the choice of what we eat from. If you are struggling in life and aren't reigning, my suggestion is to focus on Jesus and not on your own knowledge. There is a door that leads to life, and that door is Jesus. I would understand how difficult it would be to enter if that door was guarded by Cherubim and a fiery sword like the garden of Eden, but it is open for all to enter. Do not be fooled by the enemy, his power was defeated at the cross. See, and receive the abundant grace that is much more than sin, and reign in this life.