Do Something Beautiful - A 5 Day DevotionalSample

 The Fruit of Our Unrighteousness

Right in the beginning of human history, there was a major, earth-shattering, heartbreaking detour. Adam and Eve decided to turn their eyes to “near-bounty” by seeking a bounty that came without God. In fact, it came in opposition to Him and with that decision they became “un-rightwise.” They came under His wrath, subjects of His justice. That decision became an infection that has been passed on to every single man, woman, and child personally and has also broken every culture of every people group, every structure and system throughout all time. The decision to seek near-bounty without a relationship with God brought just the opposite of bounty—it brought want and need, death and pain, despair and destruction. That decision was a “sign,” an indication of humanity’s true desire to live life, to enjoy life, to consume life without God at the center.

God had told them they would die if they ate the fruit. And even if all the ramifications of that one decision could never have been known at the time, through that one decision came a spiritual infection the Bible refers to as “sin.” Sin is a hereditary spiritual darkness. Like it or not, you have it and so does every single person in the world. From the beggar on the streets of Bangalore to the richest man on earth, all of us have a darkness within that disqualifies us from the bounty of God. This spiritual infection shows up in the symptoms of life. We see it in things like greed, envy, lust, hatred, racism, abuse, self-indulgence, gossip, and other maladies. These maladies do not make us unrighteous; we are unrighteous to start!

They are the symptoms of our unrighteousness. These symptoms do, however, require justice. Remember, justice is the doorway through which we must walk to have the experienced reality of bounty—a relationship with God. A relationship with anyone, let alone God Himself, requires grace and mercy. God’s grace is not “leniency,” as if God is soft on unrighteousness. Mercy in a relationship with God is about His understanding of our limitations because of the condition we have.

We are sickened with sin; we have a spiritual disease, and because of this, God is patient and slow to anger. God strives with us and it is in the striving that we experience a moment-to-moment “mercy” from God. Why does God give mercy? Simply because what He is ultimately after is a relationship of love and that just can’t happen if justice and mercy are at odds with each other. God is both just and merciful, and He is able to be both because of Jesus. Jesus paid our debt, and without that payment there could be no merciful justice, no grace whatsoever.