Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ! I welcome you to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”!We have been talking about sin that has given birth to evil. We also saw that even after the fall God was the One that sought out man, because He wanted the best for him. God called out to Adam:
“Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” (..) Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis, 3:9, 21).
Even though Adam and Eve had brought curse upon themselves and the whole humanity God still dressed them in the tunics of animal skin. God killed an innocent animal; shed its blood to cover man’s nakedness. All of this was foreshadow of the death of Jesus Christ Who shed His innocent Blood so that through Him all people could obtain their „tunics of skin”, that is, to re-gain the Access to the glory of God that was lost because of the fall. The glory of God is the only source of wholesome and victorious living and can cover our nakedness. «Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God» (Romans, 5:1-2).
Faith in Jesus is the only thing that can reverse the consequences of the fall. “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John, 3:5).
Jesus came to take our sins; otherwise we would not be able to escape the tragedies, misery and death. Praise God that He sent Jesus into the world! Jesus is the proof of God’s love for us. If God wanted to do us evil, then He would have never sent Jesus to us. «What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?» (Romans, 8:31-32).
God has already given us His main gift – Jesus. And along with this gift we receive everything we need.So, the world did not know tragedies until the fall. The more sin abounds, the more there are curses and tragedies on earth. When we talk about sin, we need to remember that even though God has already reversed the consequences of the fall through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, people continue to sin and bring upon themselves all kinds of curses.Sins can be divided into personal sins and the sins of others. It means that a person can suffer from his own choices and sins and from the sins of other people or groups. In the 1st Epistle of Peter we see the difference between sufferings that we face in life and that we cause. «If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters» (1 Peter, 4:14-15).
These fragments of the Scripture show that not all of our sufferings are caused by our own sins; nevertheless, Apostle Peter points out that some people do suffer because they are murderers, thieves, evildoers or busybodies in other people’s matters.So, check your heart today. If you find out that your sufferings are caused by your sinful lifestyle then repent before God and leave it in your past.We will continue tomorrow!God bless you!Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
