God created a beautiful garden for the crown of His creation—man, created in God’s own image, and his wife, a helpmate suitable for the man.
He gave them complete freedom: You are free to eat from any tree in the garden… [Genesis 2:16]
He gave them only one rule to keep: …but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. [Genesis 2:17]
Only one rule to keep and so much good to enjoy. And yet, they couldn’t do it.
I was around seven when I lost a tooth and my PaPa Charlie told me, “If you can keep from poking your tongue in the hole, a gold tooth will grow in where you lost that one.” My eyes grew big … but less than ten minutes later I had forfeited my college nest egg.
He grinned and said, “You couldn’t do it, could you?”
Red-faced, embarrassed, I shook my head no.
And that’s what sin also does: it leaves us shamed and robs us of something good. It often sends us into hiding.
Adam and Eve only made it a single chapter before breaking that one rule. When God confronted them, they followed their shame game with the blame game: Adam blamed Eve (that woman) and even God (that woman YOU gave me), and Eve blamed the serpent.
The human tendency to blame someone else and refuse to take personal responsibility has made many lawyers fat and many souls lean.
How’s your soul? When the Holy Spirit convicts, do you play the blame game? Does today find you lugging around the heavy burden of shame? Are you growing weary of hiding it, stuffing it, and trying to contain it?
Sin has a way of stripping us of our identity, our freedom, our dignity. Sin robs us of our future. It marginalizes our present. It brings disgrace from our past. No fig leaf can cover all that.
We work hard to keep anyone from knowing … but God knows. And He chose to do something about it:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
He provided—and still continues to provide—for us in the person of Jesus. He also provided for Adam and Eve following that first sin:
The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21
He gave them animal skin clothes to cover their nakedness. A living thing had to die to cover the shame brought by their sin.
The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was bloody. And it was unending because sin was unending. Sin continued, so sacrifice to cover sin was required. Reading through Leviticus—all the rules and regulations for what to kill and how to kill it and what to do with the blood after—brings a touch of distaste, a bit of confusion, perhaps (if we’re honest) even boredom, but it surely should prompt gratitude that we live this side of the cross.
We couldn’t keep the one rule. We can’t keep God’s Top Ten. But thankfully, because of Jesus, the Old Testament sacrificial system has ended. He became the “once and for all sacrifice” for each one of us. Our identity in Christ means we get what He has (righteousness) and He took what we have (sin).
What a trade.
What a Savior.
Today, as we ponder Christ’s great sacrifice and His forever triumph over sin, aren’t you grateful that getting right with God doesn’t require going to the market?
As we celebrate Resurrection Sunday,
my prayer is that you have come to know and love the One
whose sacrifice has saved us, once and for all,
from the eternal consequences of sin.
He is risen.
He is risen, indeed.
In this week’s devotional video, Laura reflected on the high price Jesus paid for our salvation. We invite you to consider these thoughts today, as we celebrate His resurrection.
