Devotion for the Week...
Life is full of repetitive tasks. Ones that just don't stay
done. Like washing dishes. As soon as you're finished cleaning the supper dishes, someone wants a glass of water or you need a cup of tea, and boom...another dirty dish. And laundry. It's never even finished in the first place. There's always another load that needs to be put in the washer, or one that needs to be folded and put away. I really don't know how women survived having so many children in previous generations. The laundry alone would be enough to exhaust me!
The Bible, though, tells the story of two vastly different things that were both done once and never need to be repeated. The first brought death, the other life.
In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:16, 17). Did he and his wife, Eve, listen? No. First Eve was deceived and ate the fruit, then she "gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it"(Genesis 3:6). That one act of disobedience, of a person thinking he knew better than God, has stained all of human history. It has affected the life of every person who has lived since that day. We are all born with the same nature Adam had. We all go into life thinking we know better than God and we all want to do things our own way. This is sin, and the Bible says, "the wages of sin is death"(Romans 6:23). It also says, "death came through a man" (1 Corinthians 15:21), through Adam. Once Adam disobeyed God's command, it was done for everyone, forever.
Thank God that's not the end of the story! Here is the rest of 1 Corinthians 15:21 along with verse 22: "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
Jesus' death on the cross paid the price for all the sins of every person affected by Adam's disobedience. Just seconds before He died on the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished,"
(John 19:30). He died knowing He had done everything God wanted Him to
do, having fulfilled every part of the plan for which He came to earth. He never needs to do it again, nor does anyone else need to do it again. "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God" (Romans 6:9, 10).
Adam's act of disobedience brought death to us all. But John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life." Jesus' death paid that penalty for all who choose to believe in Him as their savior.
Have you made that choice? Have you accepted His sacrifice of love for your sins? If not, you can accept it right now, by simply talking to God and telling Him you understand that you are a sinner and that you believe Jesus died for you.
Then you can know the price for your sins has been paid in full, and need never be paid again.