I enjoyed this chapter thoroughly because I feel that it shed some light on an issue that I've always wrestled with and never quite understood. It is the question of why God would create a human race and then allow for His creation to sin against Him. I've often wondered if God knew Adam and Eve would sin before creating them. I'm sure both sides of this coin could thoroughly be debated but I had never really landed on one side and had always felt confused. I feel that the answer now may be a mute point. Focusing on this only confuses our understanding of God and distracts us from seeing how the story of God's very first creatures, Adam and Eve, have great implications for us and our relationship with the Lord.
Why allow sin in the first place?
I'm starting to believe and see the weakness Satan has in pushing sin into our lives. Sure he may destroy many, but sin is the greatest way that God saves us, and brings us into His redemption. So the last laugh so to speak is on Satan himself. God gave us the power through his Word, to resist temptation and to ask for forgiveness when we fail only strengthening God's power in our lives.
On page 114 Goldsworthy explains the covenant of God to his people in light of Noah's story and has this to say. "Later it will become much clearer that God's grace is the cause of sinful people becoming righteous. Grace then is an attitude of God for the good of those who do not deserve the good." Meditating on this we are able to realize the power we have in the redeeming work of the cross and it has allowed me by the grace of the spirit to practically play out scenarios in my life in which I can actively use my own sin to draw me closer to Him. Assuming we keep our eyes on the Lord and are eternally focused I've found it plays out like this:
Sin - judgement- grace- forgiveness- righteousness & redemption.
God uses the sin in our lives to draw us nearer to Him if and only if we allow it. This brings such peace to my life because me, as an avid sinner, can not get bogged down by how much I suck, but through the grace of the Cross God can take my sin and transform it into light in my life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Tim...these are great thoughts and they resonate with me immensely. I especially think you are spot on with your comment, " sin is the greatest way that God saves us." This is the answer I believe God wants us to hold onto when wrestling with the tough questions you are bringing up.
ReplyDeleteSin is so illogical in all it's attempts and attributes that to contribute them to Satan would only say the same about him. To think that an illogical, finite being could overcome an infinitely great God is absurd. Yet, it is still something that we wrestle with every day of our lives because of the fall.