Eeek! To understand His grace in the midst of our hangups, hurts, and behaviors, we need to see WHY we can struggle so much. This post is from Chapter #2 of the new book. Please read prior and future “Grace” posts for what took place in Eden that still affects us today. Here goes:
What happened to their souls? In that fateful, fleeting instant of momentary enjoyment of the forbidden fruit – their souls were eternally separated from the One who had formed them. The One for whom they were created to be the object of His uncontainable, untamable love. All that gone in an instant. A great divide – an impassable chasm – between the Godhead and man and woman.
What happened to the dominion the Lord God had originally given to Adam and Eve? And what about their authority to maintain and rule the planet with all of its natural God-created wonders: the ability to name and categorize plants and animals and to study and receive from the earth’s bounty? Well, all of these were lost as well in that treacherous bite. And worst of all, this dominion – this authority – it did not default back to the Creator. No-siree. It was handed hook, line, and sinker to the devil himself. Goodness and fulfillment gave way to evil and dissatisfaction. Light and truth bowed to darkness and falsehood. Love and justice lay down before hate and tyranny. There was a new kid on the planet and he didn’t play fair.
No, the devil still never plays fair. He had man and woman where he wanted them. Their spirit was rendered dead (Eph 2 ) due to their trespass and sin against the Father. Their body began to decay and become susceptible to sickness, weakness, and death (2 Cor). And their soul – the beautiful creation of God where He housed Adam’s and Eve’s human heart, mind, intellect, decision-making abilities, and their unique, one-of-a-kind, no-two-alike personality – was now separated from God forever; its treasures to be mined for the adversary’s purposes.
But God. Those famous two words that start so many Bible accounts. But God.
But God intervened. Grace happened. God Himself taking the form of a man to save Adam and Eve and all of their descendants, crashed the enemy’s lines as a wee baby. The Greatest Rescue Mission ever.
Old Testament prophets.
A virgin girl.
A star in the sky.
A manger in Bethlehem.