Friday 10 Aug 2012

Friday Reading: Romans 5:12-17

Key Verse: Romans 5:17
17  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Devotion:
One of the biggest problems we seem to have in our lives is that we do not regard all parts of the law as being the law. We all like to think that there are either some parts of it that should not apply to us or other parts that we can bend without having to face the consequences. Well, sadly for us, the law is the law (as succinctly put by a certain well know judge in one of his Hollywood films) and does not change just for our benefit. We cannot bend the truth and sweep something under the carpet no matter how small and insignificant we think it is!

Adam’s sin seems so small for us that we struggle to see it as a sin; after all, eating a bit of fruit does not seem like an ‘end of the world’ event. Sadly, for Adam and Eve and all of us who followed, it was and is! That one thing broke the law, the covenant made between Adam and God. When we live in a country we effectively agree to abide by the rules of that country so that order may be maintained. If we break the laws then we expect the consequences to follow on after we break the law. So why should we think of living in God’s world as being any different to the local laws we follow?

God has given us a set of laws that we ought to follow. He has not given us those laws to make our life difficult or arduous in any way but rather as a line over which we must not step. Once we step over that line we are guilty, no matter how far we step over the line we are still guilty. If you are watching the Olympics this year then you may well see people step over the line in various athletic events such as long jump. The fact that the slightest bit of the toe reaches over the jump line means that that competitor has broken the rules and is guilty and has to try again.

We can be very thankful that God has given us another chance! In most sporting events there is a limit to the number of second chances but with God the chances keep coming until we run out of time. Time is the limiting factor and not how badly we break the law or how many times we break it. Unfortunately for us we don’t know how much time we have got so we need to make things right right now and not wait around in case we get another chance!

Points to Ponder:
Do you admit to breaking any rules?

Are you looking to God for your second chance?