As in nature and in the arts, so in grace: it is rough treatment that gives souls, as well as stones, their luster. The more the diamond is cut, the brighter it sparkles, and in what seems hard dealings God has no end in view but to perfect our graces.
~Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873)
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come… But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Romans 5
Oh beloved, it is true. There are days that want to knock us right between the eyes and push us off the side of the path He has set us on.
The check that has to go through, bounces
Some hope for a future opportunity, reminds us of our terrible past
A friend we needed to support us, pulls the rug out from under us
The liar puts the toughest temptations right in front of our face
The timer is ticking on finding work
The wheels on the truck are falling off
And then we hear it. “Give in. Forget this. It’s not worth it.”
Stop. Just stop beloved. And listen to this fool of a preacher preach for a moment.
All the stuff that happens on days like this are not out of the ordinary. They are the standard operating mode of the world in which we live. And the evil one simply wants to use the chaos of this fallen cosmos to get us to come back into it.
Yeah, it seems weird that we would do this. But, sin will do that. Sin, this twisting of our attention back onto “me” and what “I” want and think I should do to get my own comfort back, is always available. And in seeing the destruction wrought by one decision from Adam, it is easy to see how powerful the problem is.
So, what do we do? Look back at the one Man Jesus.
Yes, it is as simple as this.
And the reason for the simplicity of the solution, is that the work for accomplishing victory over our problems has already been accomplished. And the cleanup work that was done by Jesus was exceedingly more powerful than the mess created by our forefather, Adam.
Can we see it? The problem of Adam (and you and I when we go into failure mode), is that Adam (and you and I) simply take our eyes off of Jesus. But thankfully, even on the worst of days, The Light of The World has already, and can, and does, and will burst through.
If we let Him.
So, are you getting busted up by life right now? Sounds like the liar is just flinging some stuff at you to distract you from something (and SomeOne) beautiful coming your way. Tonight is your night beloved. Time to let the Light shine on your situation.
