“But where sin increased, grace increased all the more…”
God created a perfect world. In the middle of a perfect world, He created a perfect garden. Into that perfection He placed the man and the woman, the crown of God’s creation.
And they fell. They listened to the lie. They thought they would gain enlightenment and be like God. They succumbed to the same lies that we still get taken in by today.
Their “enlightenment” was that they were naked. Along with their enlightenment came feelings of shame, guilt, fear, and separation from their Creator.
Why didn’t God just start over right there?
Just like the potter who catches the imperfection in the clay early on, God could have started over with fresh clay.
Instead, He let the flawed creation perpetuate. Every generation would be infected by Adam and Eve’s sin.
But something else entered the world at the same time sin did: Grace.
It is easy to think of grace as just a New Testament concept. Nothing could be further from the truth. Grace is part of God’s nature. God’s grace was seen in the story of the Fall as He made clothes for the man and woman. Even expelling them from the garden was motivated by grace. If you look closely, you will see God’s grace throughout the Old Testament.
Grace allows the marred and imperfect, the sinful and the corrupt, to come to God and be made whole. Grace covers our sin and empowers us to change. Because of grace, the Creator is able to take the imperfect and use us to do amazing things!
How has God’s grace impacted you?
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