Sin. It takes many forms in our world, and it cannot be avoided. It began with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and has continued to the present day. If we learn from the exchange between the serpent and Eve, sin was birthed in deception. The serpent told Eve that God did not really mean what God had said. From that point forward sin has flourished because people have believed something or someone more than they have trusted in what God has said.
Looking at Paul's concern for the church in Corinth, the worry about being corrupted from pure and undivided devotion to Christ is rooted in deception. It is safe to say that Paul's concern for the church would accurately translate to our individual lives today. The thing that gets in the way of our pure and undivided devotion to Christ is our belief that someone or something knows better than God. This will lead us to continue to join the list of all humanity that have sinned.
The Good News is that deception and sin are not the end of the story. While it is through Adam and Eve that sin enters the world, it is through one person Jesus Christ, that all the world can find redemption. In other words, because of Jesus we are not trapped in the deception and sin but we can experience the fullness of life that God offered pre-serpent in the Garden of Eden. We are not defined by our sin, rather we are defined by God's grace through Jesus Christ which covers our sin. Interestingly enough after sin entered the world it was God who sewed the garments covering the nakedness of Adam and Eve.
Turning to our marriage. God has made it pretty clear how to live in marriage in a way that leads to the fullness of marriage. This was a portion of the conversation yesterday in Two Become One. The greatest challenge to a marriage is the voice that tells us we know better than God. There are times when the voice of deception is loud and in our face, yet the most common tactic is to be subtle and sneaky. Over the years of our marriage we have both had times the voice of deception has reared its ugly head. To this point we have been able to quiet the voice by remaining focused on the voice that brings life, Jesus Christ. Like Paul teaches the Roman church, through Adam deception won but through Christ grace and love have taken the day. A marriage focused on Christ will still face attacks from the deceiver, this is true for all. However, keeping our ears tuned to Christ will allow us to remain pure and undivided in our devotion to Christ and each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment