(Christ Is Coming)
The Gospel is not an after thought. God planned long before all of the creation to provide for the deliverance of humankind from the consequences of sin. The implications of this are astounding, or rather humbling to say the least. This is central to Christian doctrine. But have you stopped and thought deeply about what this means to you personally?
God’s plan for redemption was extended to every person who has ever lived or will ever live. You know that means you, right? Too often doctrine is nothing more than a bunch of abstractions that have been piled one upon another and then sanctified with a lot of amens and hallelujahs. And the whole time folks miss the personal power of realizing that we have been on God’s mind since before the first atom of the universe was spoken into existence.
That means the things you struggle with on a daily basis, every trauma you have experienced, every heartbreak you will experience in the future God has already made accommodation for healing. Every sin, no matter how egregious has been taken into account and God has extended to you the invitation to accept his love and the healing only he can provide.
People, especially when feeling philosophical, ask, If God knew all that was going to happen as a result of sin then why did he let it occur in the first place? Couldn’t he have just saved all the trouble and prevented sin? If he had just done that the we would be okay, wouldn’t we?
The simple answer is, no. We wouldn’t be okay. We wouldn’t be not okay either. For all practical purposes we would be nothing more than mindless organic matter because the only way God could have prevented sin from ever emerging would have been to take away choice from us. About the only thing we can point to that absolutely doesn’t seem to exhibit any type of choosing behavior are rocks.
I don’t want to insult you rock lovers but the life of a rock sounds pretty boring to me. Sure, there’s no pain, or sorrow, or discomfort. But there’s also no love, joy, or beauty to behold. All of these experiences and expressions are only possible because of choice.
Our first parents chose to sin and everyone of their descendants, except one, since them has followed suit. That’s why you are dealing with the problems you have. Not necessarily because of any particular sin you have committed but because of the presence of sin in this world. It’s a hard and demoralizing truth to accept. It would downright devastating if it wasn’t for the fact that God has all the angles figured out and provided for.
So the next time you are tempted to despair at your predicament just remember God has already provided for your deliverance. He worked out a solution before the problem ever came up to begin with. Just trust in Him and He will see you through to the end.
Pastor Kevin