Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Fall and its consequence
Genesis 6:1-13

The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and His heart was filled with pain.(V.6)
In the beginning God created the universe and it was perfect. He looked upon all that he had made and was glad because it was “very good” (Gen 1:31). But in Genesis 3 we see the rebellion of man, and the consequence of his sin was that creation was no longer prefect and good. Hundreds of years pass till the days of Noah and little has changed with the human heart. The Bible records how God feels about the people He created:
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Gen 6:5-6
The consequence of Adam’s sin is that all people after him have the same moral condition of Adam. We are all inward-focused, we aim to pursue our hearts desire rather than to do the will of God (Jer. 13:10;  17:9).  We do not seek out God or desire to please Him instead we want to be the rulers of our own destiny. This sinful nature has a dramatic impact on the way we live. In place of worshiping the true God we make idols of created things which have not power to help us. Instead of loving our neighbors, we desire to take advantage of them; we greedily hoard possessions and cheat others to achieve our own ends. Rather than being submissive to God’s created order for proper gender roles, marriage vows and the valuing of human life, we reject God’s law in order to live in the manor that feels best to us.
When God looks at the human race He is deeply troubled because we have rejected Him and are no longer doing what we were created to do. This was not only a problem with the people in Noah’s time, St. Paul writes about the human condition apart from Christ in Romans 3:10,“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.”
Apart from the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, there is no hope for anyone to be saved. (Acts 4:12) But God in the fullness of time sent his very own Son in the likeness of Adam, to do what Adam could not do, obey God perfectly with his whole heart. And all who by faith trust in Jesus are recreated in the image of Christ, and enabled in measures to put to death sinfulness and walk in godliness.

Prayer:  O Holy Spirit, help us to understand the great depths of our sinfulness, that we might cling to Christ ever more firmly and joyfully praise him for the salvation he earned…Amen
Thought for the Day: Sin goes to the core of our hearts, but Jesus renews us from the inside out.  
                                                  

 Manoj Cheriyan

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