Take a moment to read Romans 5:12-21 before reading the devotional below.
My children often express anger at Adam and Eve for sinning. Apparently they believe they could do better when faced with temptation — a test they fail nearly daily when playing with toothpaste and mouthwash in the bathroom… But they are right, it isn’t fair that we all have to live under a curse just because of their decision to sin in the Garden of Eden. They invited sin into the world and handed their authority over to an evil serpent. Now we are stuck with the consequences of that and there is nothing we can do to fix it.
The good news is that God is unfair in the other direction. Jesus removed the consequences for our sin in one fell swoop. It’s not fair, but it works in our favor. You didn’t ask Adam to sin, and you didn’t ask Jesus to undo it. But you experience the pain of the former and the freedom of the latter.
Here’s your freedom for today: grace is too good to be true. God established his law to illustrate the pain and consequences of sin. These are very real consequences (as we all know from experiencing the fallout of our own poor choices), and they are the operating system of this evil world. God’s kingdom is different, and his law is completely unnecessary in his kingdom because sin is not present. Once you are forgiven and accept this forgiveness from Jesus, you get to participate in a life in which sin no longer controls your destiny. You have a greater power to say “no” here on earth and you have an eternal home that is sin-free. If all of this sounds too good to be true, it is. For this world. But in God’s kingdom what is true is defined by what he says and does. In his kingdom, he says you are free.