The Fall

Recently I have been reading Tullian Tchividjian’s book entitled; Unfashionable. In this book he eloquently describes how living the Christian life can be counterintuitive, countercultural; in fact it can truly be “unfashionable”.

There is a point in the book where Tullian (I hope he doesn’t mind me calling him that) discusses the fall. He points out Romans 8:20a which tells us;

For the creation was subjected to frustration


He is pointing out that because of the fall the entirety of creation has been upset. As beautiful as things can seem; there is still this level of frustration in creation. He quotes Vern Poythress who says;

“As a result of the Fall human beings who have descended from Adam suffer sin and death, and end up hurting one another in the sin and misery. But the curse that God pronounces because of Adam’s fall also results in alterations in the broader created order. One thinks of mosquitoes, tapeworms, rabies, all the carriers of diseases so debilitating to human beings. Who can guess all the ways in which the created order may have been put out of joint as a result of the Fall?”

Out of joint – doesn’t that just describe how life can feel sometimes? He further quotes Michael Wittmer who describes it;

“Life a stone tossed in a pond, the corrosive curse of sin rippled out to destroy the entire world: human society, the animal kingdom, and even the ground itself began groaning beneath the weight of sin.”

We can find reference to this in Romans 8:22;

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

All this has just helped to show the level of frustration, the futility of a groaning life without hope. But, there is hope! The hope of a savior, the hope of salvation, the hope of redemption, the hope of restoration. We can begin to see the hope in Romans 8:23-25

23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.


So as Christians we have hope for an eternity of better things and we wait patiently. As Paul concludes in Romans 8:38-39

38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christian, isn’t that so comforting? Even with the frustrations of life, the suffering, the groaning; nothing and I mean nothing will ever separate us from the Love of God through Christ! Amen and Amen.

Grace and Peace!

Prayer from Ephesians

Our Most Gracious and Heavenly Father, We humbly come before you praising you for all things. As you tell us in Ephesians;

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Lord, help us to praise you more and more as you have so greatly blessed us; you have blessed us with not just a few, but with every spiritual blessing in Christ. It is mind boggling to think that by your grace and mercy and love; we as Christians are adopted as sons and daughters of the most high God.

Father as your children please forgive our shortcomings; our failures and never let us forget as you also tell us in Ephesians;

7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Father, help us to know and trust that through Christ we have been blessed with the riches of your grace; that as believers we are truly spiritual millionaires and we thank you for that!

So it is with thankful hearts, that we lift up your church and pray for unity, strength and love. We pray for guidance, wisdom and spirit-filled lives. We pray that you would lead us to serve, to give back and to reach out. We pray that there will be an outpouring of service and love so great that it has your fingerprints all over it and that any boasting that results will be a boasting in Christ alone.

We pray for this country that we will be a people that will turn to you for all things. We pray for our missionaries that you will protect, provide and help to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. This day we continue to pray for Haiti that relief will be swift and effective and there will be a mighty movement that brings you the glory.

Abba Father, we love you and pray these many things in the most holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Rag Dolls

John Ortberg tells the story of his sister’s love for a doll. When she got it, the doll was so beautiful, and his sister just truly loved that doll, she took the doll everywhere with her, slept with the doll, and played with the doll continuously. However, over time there was wear and tear; missing hair, broken arm, torn clothes. Still, his sister’s love remained constant, strong, and unconditional.

Ortberg drew two conclusions from this illustration. “First, we are all rag dolls; flawed, wounded, broken and bent. But the second truth is that we are God’s rag dolls. He knows about our raggedness and loves us anyway.”

You have to let that sink in for a few minutes, but once it does it is so encouraging. It is truly amazing to think about this unconditional love of the creator for those that believe; for those that understand and recognize their raggedness and their need for a savior.

Romans 5 tells us just how much God loves us;

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Can you see it? God demonstrates his love for us by loving us even when we were His enemy; through Christ we are reconciled by love and our response should be unconditional love for God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Amen!

Ortberg continues that this can be summarized into one statement uttered by a wise theologian years ago; “God is for us!” It is so true and we can see it clearly in Romans 8;

31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Abba Father, thank you so much for loving your rag dolls so much that we might be reconciled to you forever and ever. Thank you for being for us so that nothing will ever separate us from the love of Christ. Amen and Amen!

Grace and Peace!