The Promise

For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23 NET

God chose to create humans with the ability to choose to love Him—or not. His freely given gift of choice!

We could choose to follow Jesus or choose to walk away from Him if we wanted, and sadly, some do, that’s what originally created this separation between God and His creation: choosing to turn away from the Lord. Instead turning to sin. 

Sin is a disease that has infected humanity. 

One of the worst effects of sin is that it causes us to see ourselves and others as less than God’s treasured and important human creations. 

Sin wants to blind us to the image of God in others and the image of God in ourselves. 

When we start to see people as less than human we start to treat them as less than human. 

We can all think of examples when we’ve been treated as less than. And, if we’re honest, we can all think of examples where we’ve treated others as less than. Sin is real and sin is ugly. 

Sin hasn’t just infected humanity though. Sin has corrupted all of creation. 

I mean think about it, see it for the rawness it is. We tend to think sin means that we have broken a few rules, made a few mistakes. So we apologize and get on with our lives, right?  

Wrong. Sin is much more than breaking the rules. 

God created an intricate, interwoven creation, each part depending on the others, all governed by laws of His order and harmony. 

Sin affects every part of that order and harmony—twisting, fracturing, distorting, and corrupting it.

This is why we need the Gospel.  This is why we must rely on Jesus Christ every single day. He is the beauty, the peace, the promise.