Torn

                                     
                    "If Grace Is An Ocean We're All Sinking."

                                                     -John Mark McMillan

                                                    I remember the exact place I was when I received Jesus into my life. My grandparents had taken me to a funeral service of someone I've never met and still don't the name of. The preacher who was officiating over the service ended by talking about things I've heard before. " We have salvation through Jesus." "If you haven't received him today, there isn't a better time." When I recited the prayer in that chapel I honestly didn't understand the gift I have received. The word grace was rarely used in front of me, and even more rare the word salvation. The feeling I felt after reciting that simple prayer was new to me. I said to myself, "I'm forgiven?" I mean as a kid what do I need to be forgiven for? I never killed anyone or took drugs. Maybe I had lied a few times but I was a good kid. Its these thoughts in my adolescence that reflect our sinful nature and how far away we are from perfection. We can think we aren't "That Bad." We can look ourselves in the mirror and honestly say ,"I'm a great person." The next question after these statements would be, "Why do I need God?"

                                                     What we fail to realize is that God created us. When God created us he also created a set of standards to live by. God says, "You can eat from any tree you desire, but not the tree of good and evil, it will kill you."(Gen. 2:18) By making this statement God put in place a freedom, and opportunity to choose him instead of monetary pleasure. He gave us freedom in that we could partake in any fruit tree on earth but not this one tree. By restricting us from this one tree God wasn't trying to be a power hungry, greedy being. This wasn't God's tree that would pleasure you more than anything on earth. The reason God commanded that Adam or Eve not partake of the tree was that God wanted them to choose their creator over his creation. God wanted us so deeply to choose him over a fruit tree. I think this picture that has been there from the beginning paints the entire human race in a stain that can never be erased by our own doing. Instead of choosing God, Eve chose to partake of the fruit. By doing this, she chose the creation over the creator. All this is to say that we can say we are a nice person and that we are good to people. What we fail to realize is that we were born into a sinner's world. A world of death and idolatry. As God said from the beginning,"It will kill you." In sin there is only death. When we choose to love something instead of God we sin. Can you begin to count how many times we have chose instant gratification over eternal joy and intimacy with God.

                                                  Whenever Eve was tempted by the enemy of God, she believed his lies just like we do everyday. "He said you will die? "He knows you will be fine, he just doesn't want you to be like him."(Gen.3:4) When he says this to her, she begins to look at the tree with lust and she rationalizes away the her conviction to not eat the fruit. Whenever she begins to eat the fruit she also gives Adam some to partake of. When they take their first bites of the fruit it doesn't take long for God to notice there actions. The bible says he came into the garden and saw them partaking of the fruit. Something that has eternal ramifications has happened. After God came to see them, they realized the trap they had fallen into and felt shame. The tried to hide from God. How many times have we tried to hide our sin from God? How many times have we felt shame after we have failed? After they tried to hide from God;God called out for them saying, "Where are you?" This action from his first son and daughter hurt God so much. He loved us so much, and we decided not to choose his love.

                                                Ever since that day in Eden we have been separated from God. When I first heard of our separation of God I wondered, "Why can't God just forgive us and be done with it." I believe God can't forgive us because that would be going back on his own rules when he said not to partake of the tree. God's standards aren't there to send us to hell but to set us free. God's standards are perfect and therefore he is perfect. If he went back on his standards to allow us entry into his kingdom on our own works he would cease to be Perfect. As you may or not know the story of God and man doesn't end in the garden of Eden.

                                              Thousands of years after that day in Eden, God decided to put a plan in place that would change the course of history. In Genesis he said that partaking of the tree (or sin) would kill us. By saying this he said that sin will always lead to death. So God's plan was to send his only son to conquer death. His son came to earth and lived a perfect and sinless life. His son's name is Jesus. Jesus lived the life that God has intended for us to live. Even though Jesus lived perfect and never sinned, he died the death that we deserved. God loved us so much that he would send his only son to die a gruesome death that was meant for us so that we may have Grace. By Jesus taking on death he removed our separation from our Father. The bible says as soon as Jesus died the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom.(Matt.27:51) This veil was sixty feet high ad thirty feet wide. This veil symbolized our separation from God, and when Jesus died it was ripped into two pieces symbolizing the abolishment of our separation. Before his death Jesus said that he would die, and be buried. The next part to his statement is the reason we have Grace at all. He also said that after three days he would rise from his tomb. By doing this he conquered death and the grave. Sin was crushed along with the grave so we could be free from the grips of our own nature.

                                             God invented and perfected grace. Grace is the promise of forgiveness no matter what you have done or where you have found yourself. The bible says when sin increases grace increases even more.(Rom. 5:20) Because of this grace we can be reunited in a relationship with our lover, God. You're loved more than you know and desired more than you can comprehend. God has overthrown the king of lies and his kingdom. This is not to say that we can keep sinning and know that its covered in Grace. Grace is a gift and we should show our gratitude by chasing perfection, and relying on grace to cover our short comings. If you are reading this and you haven't received this gift of life, read John 3:16 and feel free to shoot me an email or tweet at me and I would be happy to talk you through anything you would need. I want to close with a quote that is both poetic and a truth. "The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair."-Relient K

P.S. This is my email-learninhowtodie@gmail.com
        This is my twitter-@learninhowtodie
P.S.S. These are the songs I quoted from,God Bless!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvz0J0WBZPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW7CD29V4tU
P.S.S. Thank you M. Hogan for the wonderful painting.