Recapturing Shalom
Tim Melton
Genesis 3:1-24
A year ago, would you ever have imagined that the world would be as it is this Christmas? Masks. Restrictions. Sickness. Fear. Financial crisis. And still so many unanswered questions. Do you ever have those moments where you look around and sense, deep inside, that ''Life is not supposed to be like this.''
It wasn´t always like this. In the beginning God created our world and everything about it was good. It was Shalom. Not just Shalom meaning peace. It was true and complete Shalom. It was life as it was intended to be. There was no shame, no guilt, no fear, and no hate. Everything was right. Right with nature, right with each other, and right with God. Shalom.
But then, in Genesis 3, it happened. Adam, Eve, a tree, a serpent, a lie, and the sinful bite of forbidden fruit that changed the world forever. From then on pain, doubt, anger, betrayal, sin and death became part of the human experience. Their guilt, and the judgment of God, that Adam and Eve had brought upon themselves would now be passed on to every human who would be born after them. Because of their sin they were driven out of the Garden of Eden and Shalom was lost. Shalom was lost for all of us.
As the Apostle Paul wrote, ''sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-'' (Romans 5:12) ''Like the rest, we were (now) by nature children of wrath. . . fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts.'' (Ephesians 2:3)
We all are now born with this sinful nature. As scripture declares, ''We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'' (Romans 3:23). None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one (Romans 3:10-12). We are slaves to sin (Romans 6:17), dead in . . . sin (Ephesians 2:1). We are blind (1 John 2:11), and evil (Lu ...
Tim Melton
Genesis 3:1-24
A year ago, would you ever have imagined that the world would be as it is this Christmas? Masks. Restrictions. Sickness. Fear. Financial crisis. And still so many unanswered questions. Do you ever have those moments where you look around and sense, deep inside, that ''Life is not supposed to be like this.''
It wasn´t always like this. In the beginning God created our world and everything about it was good. It was Shalom. Not just Shalom meaning peace. It was true and complete Shalom. It was life as it was intended to be. There was no shame, no guilt, no fear, and no hate. Everything was right. Right with nature, right with each other, and right with God. Shalom.
But then, in Genesis 3, it happened. Adam, Eve, a tree, a serpent, a lie, and the sinful bite of forbidden fruit that changed the world forever. From then on pain, doubt, anger, betrayal, sin and death became part of the human experience. Their guilt, and the judgment of God, that Adam and Eve had brought upon themselves would now be passed on to every human who would be born after them. Because of their sin they were driven out of the Garden of Eden and Shalom was lost. Shalom was lost for all of us.
As the Apostle Paul wrote, ''sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-'' (Romans 5:12) ''Like the rest, we were (now) by nature children of wrath. . . fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts.'' (Ephesians 2:3)
We all are now born with this sinful nature. As scripture declares, ''We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'' (Romans 3:23). None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one (Romans 3:10-12). We are slaves to sin (Romans 6:17), dead in . . . sin (Ephesians 2:1). We are blind (1 John 2:11), and evil (Lu ...
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