Purified Preparation
“The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too.” Gen. 3:6 NLT
There it is: the moment that ruined it all. The perfect paradise that God had provided for His creation is undone in a moment’s time! Wow… This is the Earth’s introduction to sin and since this moment, so much has unfolded right before our very eyes. As a result of this sin, so many negative things have taken place! All based on the lie of sin. Sin introduced us to this separation from God. In this chapter of the Bible, we see Eve being totally tricked by the serpent. The serpent gave her lie after lie that made the one restriction God placed on humans seem irresistible. This verse says that “she wanted the wisdom it would give her.” SHE wanted it… it’s interesting to me how Eve had access to the very thing that she was searching for. She and Adam had to have communed with God on a regular basis! I mean.. they were the only 2 beings who were made in the likeness of God! I could only imagine what God had shared and was preparing to share with them! She had access to the source, but the serpent convinced her that she could have freestanding power through her own right and based upon the desire that was birthed through a lie, we were separated from God. That’s all sin is, anything that pulls you away from God.
Sin is so tricky and deceiving that some sin doesn't even feel like sin until it's over! It doesn't feel like you're doing anything terribly wrong until after its completed and the results have made themselves known. The Bible says in Gen. 3:7 “And at that moment their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness…” It wasn't until they ate the fruit, that they had allowed themselves to be convinced was harmless, that they felt the shame. By that time, the deed was done. The damage had taken place. Now Satan had them in a place where this thing could separate them from God and the shame caused them to hide. Isn’t that something?! Sin is still doing this to us TODAY! We get deceived by how cool or how harmless something may look and before we know it we are separated from God and the SHAME from what we have done causes us to hide from the world, hindering us from fulfilling our potential and living out our purpose. (I am so guilty of this myself!)
Sin is tricky! It, sometimes, feels harmless at first, and then the next thing you know, this situation has spiraled so far out of control that it is literally beyond your control and you need the undeniable power of Christ to rectify it.
I’m so glad that since this moment, we have been given the gift of Christ. Through the sacrifice that Christ made by being hung on a cross, dying, and ultimately raising up from the dead… He literally removed the ultimate result of sin: Death. (Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…) separation from God leads to death. There’s no way around that. Spiritual, mental, or even a physical death… it happens once you are separated from God. Your mind gets so entangled in the action, the shame, thoughts, etc… you’re lost to the power of the shame that comes with sin. It leads to things that have you in a place of worry, fear, hopelessness, and failure. But through Christ’s sacrifice, we have access to peace, to hope, and life!
Christ came to undo what sin was set up to cause: Death.
In Joshua 3:5, it says: “Then Joshua told the people. ‘purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.’
Because we have been freed from sin through the sacrifice of Christ, we can be purified. We can be made whole and we can be apart of what God is doing now! We have access to Christ through prayer and worship… so that we can be purified! Once we accept and believe that Christ has made us pure from sin, the Lord will do great wonders among us! God longs for us to surrender ourselves fully to Him! That he may get the glory from our lives! It comes through more than just action… for actions didn't get us this gift of salvation and purification, grace did! The grace of God was shown through Christ taking an unfair punishment for establishing what should have been done by Adam and Eve and their descendants…
Grace! It keeps us and puts us in a position to be apart of God’s plan for right now!
So, I urge whoever is reading this to follow the instructions that were given in Joshua Chapter 3 and purify yourselves! Find time for prayer. Find time to read the Bible. Find time to simply worship God, for God is calling us to a higher place of intimacy because He desires to do great wonders among us!