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It feels like we are “really doing something” when we take on well-publicized social issues, as opposed to day-to-day tasks that never seem to change the world. Yet, Jesus says, “‘Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward’” (Matt. 10:42). Here are 30 ways to love Christ in the everyday moments of life:
1. Be kind. Never hurt people emotionally, physically, or spiritually (1 Cor. 13:4–7; Eph. 4:32). If you do hurt someone, ask for forgiveness and make amends if possible (James 5:16).
2. Treat everyone respectfully (Rom. 12:10).
3. Be as generous as you can responsibly be. What this looks like for each Christian will vary depending on circumstances that often—and usually do—change throughout life (Luke 21:1–4; Acts 20:35).
4. Help friends and family who are overwhelmed with life due to a variety of reasons by doing their yard work or household chores or running an errand for them (James 2:14–17).
5. Share with people the hope you have in Christ. If they have questions, find good answers. Don’t ever be afraid of the truth—as Jesus stated, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32; 1 Pet. 3:15).
6. Work (Col. 3:23; 2 Thess. 3:10–12). Some Christians mistakenly think that work is part of the curse from the fall, but God gave humans work to do before Adam sinned (Gen. 2:15). God worked when he created the universe (Gen. 1). Humans are made in God’s image and bring him glory when they work honorably and responsibly.
7. Play—as long as your duties get done (Eccles. 3:13).
8. Rest (Mark 6:31). God made humans to need rest. Getting too little rest makes you grumpy, short-tempered, and a safety hazard to others as well as yourself. If you neglect resting sufficiently over a significant period of time, your health will suffer. Due to circumstances beyond their control, people can’t always rest as much as they need to do, but they should try the best they can to get enough sleep.
8. Listen thoughtfully when someone is talking to you—be understanding and empathetic. You don’t need to have an answer for everyone’s problems. People need family and friends to stand with them and hold them up when they have trouble walking on their own (Eccles. 4:10).
10. Think of others before yourself (1 Cor. 13:4). No one likes to be around a selfish, arrogant person (Luke 14:7–11; Phil. 2:3–4).
11. Forgive people who hurt you, but be sure to protect yourself and others from future harm (Matt. 6:12). Trust is not a right—it must be earned.
12. During any social time before or after church, introduce yourself to people you haven't met and get to know them. Make an extra effort if they are by themselves (Heb. 13:2).
13. Laugh—a lot if you can! (Job 8:21). Yet, never do so at anyone’s expense.
14. Send a friend a text to say hi or to remember a birthday or special anniversary (1 Cor. 16:14).
15. Invite someone over for a simple dinner or to do something fun together (Heb. 13:1–2).
16. When you can’t find the right words to say to people who are hurting, you don’t have to say something. Give them a hug or do something helpful for them (Gal. 5:13–14; 1 Pet. 4:10).
17. Be courageous (2 Tim. 1:7). You can always take heart, because Jesus has "overcome the world" (John 16:33).
18. Go on a walk or do some other form of exercise—by yourself or with a group—and smile at people you see along the way (Luke 6:31; Eph. 4:32).
19. Meet up for coffee with someone who is struggling in some way (Gal. 6:2).
20. Thank God for his creation. Spend time outdoors and gaze in awe at all God has made: humans, animals, and the natural world (Ps. 19:1).
21. Thank God for the vast variety of art people create (Exod. 35:35). Enjoy paintings, dancing, music, architecture, crafts. Make your own art for you and others to enjoy (Phil. 4:8).
22. Tell your family members you love them at the beginning and end of each day—and in between! (Eph. 2:18; 1 John 4:19).
23. If you see a good sale on groceries, buy extra and drop off a bag of food at the door of a friend who is struggling financially (Luke 6:34; 1 John 3:17).
24. If you see people perform an act of kindness, praise them (1 Thess. 5:11).
25. Never criticize anyone publicly if it can be avoided without someone or something being harmed. Think of how you would want to be treated in a public situation, and treat others likewise (Luke 6:31).
26. If you are invited to a God-honoring event, go and enjoy it (John 2:1–2).
27. Give someone a compliment (1 Thess. 5:11).
28. If you know someone who is suffering from abuse, illness, or calamity, do what you can to help, and find someone who can help in ways you can’t (Prov. 17:17). Don’t be like the people Jesus described who passed by the victim of a robbery and looked the other way (Luke 10:25–37).
29. Be a mentor in a small or big way—help someone succeed in a worthy endeavor (1 Pet. 5:1–5; Tit. 2:3–5).
30. Be happy for people when good things happen in their lives (Rom. 12:15).
This article has been updated since it was originally published on November 13, 2017.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.
Human beings in the West are very confused.
On the one hand, we sense that we are important and significant. Life means something. We have purpose—a high purpose. We were destined for great things.
On the other hand, we tell ourselves, incessantly, that we are meaningless and insignificant:
“Earth is a tiny planet in a tiny solar system in a galaxy that is just one of countless billions. The apparent significance of our planet is an illusion.”
“And human beings are simply one life-form among millions. Our sense of being more important than other life is an illusion. The apparent difference between Melinda and malaria, Timothy and tapeworms, Bob and bacteria, is a trick: a trick born of our pathetic tendency to self-aggrandizement and the pernicious influence of religion.”
“Anyway, what we call ‘life’ is merely a composite of chemical reactions and discharged electricity. This may create the chimera of life and consciousness, but the chemical reactions in the brain are the same in kind as the chemical reactions in the fertilizer factory, and no different in objective value.”
We say that “the value of human life is illusory.” Yet, when some regime or dictator acts consistently with this, and butchers whole populations of people who stand in the way of their grand designs, it shakes and sickens us to the core. At the mere sound of the word, Hiroshima, our souls shudder.
We are confused.
Our young men crave to lead and protect, yet give up their eyes and hearts to fecal sewers of pornography. Our young women yearn for love and respect, yet give their bodies to men who have made no public and honorable commitment to them, nor even a pretense of commitment.
Western ethics are shambolic. The same political party that pushes for liberal abortion laws pushes for harsh penalties for women who smoke while pregnant. The same leaders who cry for legalized prostitution—to open the brothel doors to our sisters and daughters, and to smooth the way for sex traffickers—are the shrillest when sexual harassment strikes.
Our hearts tell us that we are important. Our heads tell us that this is an illusion. We are confused, and the confusion is shredding the Western soul.
What does God’s Word say? “Your heart’s instinct is right! Your head is wrong!” “You’re not thinking right!” “Listen to the truth about yourself; you’re more important than you could ever have conceived!”
Open up to Genesis 1:24-26, and you will see three reasons why you are important:
1. You are important because this world was made for you.
When the president of the United States visits another country, the preparation is stupendous. Teams of security experts meet with local law enforcement to prepare to keep the president’s body safe. An armored limousine is delivered: bullet, bomb, and rocket proof. The airport is closed. The host nation’s highest dignitaries stand waiting on the tarmac. A gleaming guard of honor stands to attention. A rich red carpet is unrolled, and a brass band plays. All of this preparation says: “This person is important.”
Compare this to God’s preparation for your arrival. Creation was at first lightless, lifeless, formless, and watery. You were on the way. Remember at this point the Hebrew concept of corporate identity: Adam was the father of all human beings. All human beings are derived from him, and so all human beings were represented by him, and were latent in him. By preparing the world for Adam, God was very much preparing the world for you.
God saw the darkness, he saw you coming, and he said, “Let there be light!” (Gen. 1:3). And he flooded creation with physical light and the light of truth and goodness.
God saw the airless watery chaos, he saw you coming, and he said, “Let there be a firmament, an expanse!” (Gen. 1:6). And he created breathing space for you, a place to respire.
God saw the seas, and he saw you coming, and he said, “Let the waters be gathered, and let dry land appear, and let the land be filled with seed-bearing plants, and let it look beautiful!” (Gen. 1:9-13) And so he stocked a mighty pantry for you, and adorned your world with heart-aching beauty.
God said, “Let there be a sun, moon, and stars, to regulate the seasons and tides that humanity needs, and to call humanity to the greatest and most glorious and beautiful and satisfying thing a human being can do: to worship and enjoy me!” (Gen. 1:14-19).
God saw the empty skies and seas, and he saw you coming, and he said “Let the sky be filled with living creatures, birds of many kinds. And let the seas be filled with fishes and whales and other sea-creatures” (Gen. 1:20-23). And so God adorned the skies and seas with creatures that give life, and enhance and beautify life.
And then God created the land animals:
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Gen. 1:24-25)
Notice three kinds of animals for the land:
Behemah—animals in general, and cattle in particular (not to be confused with behemoth, very large animals like the hippopotamus and crocodile). In this context it probably refers to domestic animals like oxen, camels, cows, sheep, and goats. These were the “clean” animals that provided God’s people with milk, meat, leather, fertilizer, transport, and muscle power. (Later they would be used for sacrifices.)
Remes—all manner of “unclean” mammals, amphibians, and reptiles: snakes and sloths, hares and hounds, goannas and geckos, frogs and field-mice, boars and bandicoots.
Chaya Eretz—animals of the earth, that creep along the ground, including insects.
Together these encompass all creatures great and small, that are indirectly or directly necessary for human life. Indirectly because the swarming animals are an essential part of the world’s ecosystem: every animal, no matter how minuscule, ugly, noxious or obnoxious, forms part of the essential food chain and circle of life. And directly because many animals—domestic animals in particular—serve humanity’s needs for transport, muscle-power, tools, clothing, and food. I remember, for example, when I lived in an aboriginal community, an elderly man skinning a kangaroo and showing that every part had a good use: even a claw which he used, with a mirthful smile, to comb his grey hair.
These animals were made “according to their kind.” Just as God didn’t make one all-purpose plant to feed humanity, but instead made numberless delightful varieties of fruits, vegetables, and grains, God did not provide one generic animal that would serve all our needs of food, transport, and labor. Instead God made a bewildering and enchanting variety of animal life. God declared these animals “good”: well-made and well-suited to the needs of human beings.
You are important because God did all this for you! He prepared this world for you.
2. You are important because God made you differently.
If there are many today who like to say that “Humans are just animals,” Genesis says loud and clear, “You are distinctly different!” It does this in three ways:
Notice first the “Let us make.” This is the first time God precedes his created work with this solemn preamble. Humanity will be made very differently to the rest of creation because God intended for us to be fundamentally different. How much these three words teach us about God! He is One (Deut. 6:4), and he is a plurality of persons: “Let us make.” This is not the Nicene Creed, but it blazes a trail to it.
Notice next in Genesis 2:7, which details Genesis 1:26, that “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” What intimacy! We live because God breathed his breath of life from his “mouth” into our nostrils. And God didn’t just suscitate us. He animated, enlivened, infused and imbued us with His Spirit—with Himself!
Notice thirdly the jarring “bump in the text.” After making light, “It was good.” After the firmament, “It was good.” After the dry land and vegetation, “It was good.” After the heavenly lights, “It was good.” After the birds and fishes, “It was good.” After humanity: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good!” Every Christian should love and respect the natural world: for God made it and it is good. And we should love and respect humanity all the more, for God has declared us very good.
Five words here about Genesis 1 and evolutionary theism: Genesis does not teach it. It positively does not teach that God made humanity from animal species, and vegetable life before that, and lifeless compounds before that, through an infinitely lengthy and infinitesimally gradual step-by-step process of adaption.
Evolutionary theism is not taught in the lines; it is not implied between the lines. And theologically, everything that the Bible teaches about humanity contradicts it: especially with the links that it draws between us and Adam as our historic father and representative (Rom. 5:12-21, 1 Cor. 15:21-49), links that are simply nonsense if Adam was not the real first man created by God in Genesis 1 and 2, and the one original ancestor of us all.
God made you different from creation, to show that though you are part of creation, you are also distinctly important.
3. You are important because you bear God’s image.
“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” The word mankind, ādām, is closely related to the word adāmāh, meaning ground or soil. Humanity has continuity with the rest of creation: we are not God, but creatures of God. Yet note the untold dignity of these words.
Some scholars wonder whether these two words, “image and likeness,” refer to two different ways by which humanity resembles God. Most however think that they work together, “image-likeness,” to define the affinity between God and humanity. To see a human being is to see an image of God, a likeness of God, a picture of God, a representation and representative of God.
Image-bearing is described functionally in the very next verse: Humanity will “rule over” the rest of creation. A viceroy, literally vice-king, represents the king and rules in the king’s place when the king is not there in person. To honor and obey the viceroy is to honor and obey the king. God’s image-bearers are his viceroys.
Genesis 1:24-26 explains the profound sense of high destiny and purpose that is deeply imprinted on the heart and soul of every human being. It is not an illusion. It is the inevitable consequence of our special creation.
Yes, the imago dei has been severely marred. We are like the Titanic, resting around 12,500 feet down on the floor of the North Atlantic, broken, holed, and rusting: a faded wreck of the glorious original. But it is still the Titanic, and we are still image-bearers!
And God the Son has come, incarnate in the same human flesh as you and me. How great is human dignity if God the Son took on the full body and soul of human nature. How great that he died for image bearers (he did not die for horses), to restore the image in us.
Every Christian is inspired by this. This week I saw a relic of a man at a bus-stop: disheveled, reeking, stooped liked a whipped dog, fumbling to light a cigarette, cursing loudly, angrily, and uncontrollably. He bears God’s image. To see this man is to see something of God. He is God’s representative, God’s viceroy, a lord over creation!
We long to see the Titanic raised and repaired, and not only restored, but even improved from its showroom condition. And the same is true for us. Jesus served image bearers by dying for them. And we will do the same.
That is why we sacrifice ourselves to educate the ignorant, to emancipate the slaves, to visit those in prison, and to protect the weak. That is why we wage do-or-die war against self-indulgence, the might-is-right ethic, prostitution, abortion, and slavery in its pure and de facto forms. That is why we honor, protect, and help the disabled. That is why we abhor euthanasia: we are image-bearers to be cared for to the end with skill and respect, not animals to be put down.
You feel important because you are. You bear the image of God, and Christ is your brother. The Holy Spirit is conforming you to the image in Christ. Emulate Christ, and love other image-bearers with sacrificial love.
This article was originally published at Beautiful Christian Life on October 15, 2018.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.
What did Jesus mean when he said, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13)? Can Christians lose their salvation at some point in life?
Jesus tells us that there will be those who profess Christ but don’t have new life in the Spirit:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)
And Jesus tells us what the Father wills regarding all who believe in him:
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)
Having new life in Christ by the Spirit guarantees that one will endure to the end.
All who are regenerated to new life in Christ by the Spirit will endure to the end. The Spirit does not come and go depending on our level of faithfulness (Eph. 1:23-24). Once the Holy Spirit has regenerated you, making you a new creation in Christ, he keeps your life and preserves you forever:
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8)
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:13-14)
Salvation is God's gift entirely. Someone who has new life by the Holy Spirit cannot lose their salvation. Believers did nothing to earn regeneration and there is nothing they can do to become un-regenerated. The Spirit indwells all true believers, and he convicts God’s children of their sin in his sanctifying work. No one will snatch Jesus' sheep from his hand (John 10:28).
The Westminster Confession of Faith, one of the great confessions of the historic church, states,
They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved. (Phil. 1:6, 2 Pet. 1:10, 1 John 3:9, 1 Pet. 1:5,9) — Westminster Confession of Faith 17.1
Around the throne of Christ, the solace and quiet of the permanent resides without any shadow of change.
To be raised with Christ by faith makes us part of the new creation. It alters our identity, our homeland, our family, and our destiny. Being raised with Jesus means we are strangers and aliens in this age. Our new family is the body of Christ. Our homeland is the Age to Come. The country of our new birth is the world above. We seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is a pursuit of Jesus—to be near him, to see him, to worship him. It is focusing the lens of our hope upon the enthroned Christ.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:1-4)
The constant changing of circumstances of our lives injects us with insecurity, fear, anxiety, and instability as the good today may be gone tomorrow. Yet, around the throne of Christ, the solace and quiet of the permanent resides without any shadow of change. The weather of our lives here may be foul or fair, but our true home is found secure in the everlasting peace of Christ in heaven. To seek the things above is to rest in the forever of Christ’s love and glory; it is to let his grace pour into our hearts like rivers of living water from Mount Zion above.
Peace with God and eternal life are found in Christ alone alone.
If you have not already done so, receive Jesus Christ as your Savior today:
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:9-13)
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Augustine once said, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” This is a sobering truth—a much-needed reminder that we are called to repent of our sin as soon as God has convicted us of it. It is also a sobering truth in so much as it relays the fact that God does not owe us life or forgiveness. He can do with us whatever he wants at any time (Deut. 32:39).
When we come to terms with this fact, we fall on our faces and cry out with the psalmist,
Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you. (Ps. 143:2)
We cling to Christ crucified and risen and cry out with the psalmist,
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared. (Ps. 130:3-4)
This is not something that must happen just one time in our life. We must do this throughout the totality of our short lives until we are with Christ in glory.
God bears long with us in order to encourage us to repent.
Sadly, we so often act just like the Israelites—seeing God's glorious works and yet rebelling against him time and time again. In Numbers 14, we have one of the most instructive examples of Israel's rebellion and God's mercy. The people were murmuring against God’s appointed leaders, Moses and Aaron—though they were really complaining against the Lord. The Lord asked Moses,
“How long will this people despise me?” (Num. 14:11)
Moses then interceded on behalf of the people for the sake of the Lord, his attributes, and his covenant promises (Num. 14:15-19). The Lord then granted Moses his request, saying,
“I have pardoned, according to your word.” (Num. 14:20-21)
However, God brought the following charge against the people:
“But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.” (Num. 14:22)
What is gloriously highlighted in the account above is the great long-suffering and patience of God. The God who should wipe us all out in a moment for our sin and rebellion (not to mention for the sin of our federal representative, Adam) bears long with us in order to patiently encourage us to repent. This is what Peter marvelously sums up in his second epistle where he writes,
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9)
The patience of God is one of his most formidable attributes.
Every time we think of the patience and the long-suffering of God (and think of that truth in light of what he has done for us in Christ crucified), the proper response is repentance and gratitude. The patience of God is one of his most formidable attributes—yet, one that is not frequently highlighted. In the Old Testament, whenever the name and attributes of the Lord are declared, the Holy Spirit highlights the fact that he is "slow to anger" (Exod. 34:6; Num. 14:18; Ps. 86:15; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2).
There is, however, a wrong way for us to respond to the long-suffering of the Lord. In Psalm 50, God sets out the wicked deeds of the ungodly. He then says,
These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. (Ps. 50:21)
Here we find that many who experience God's long-suffering and patience, rather than repenting, convince themselves that God is just like them. John Gerstner once told the story of two little boys who were playing outside in the mud. When both boys headed back home, one said to the other, “Come on inside and play.” The other little boy said, “But won't your mommy be angry that we are tracking mud inside the house?” His friend responded, “Oh, no. My mommy doesn't care if we bring mud inside the house.” To which the other boy said, “Oh, I wish I had a nice, dirty mommy like you!” Many people take the patience of God and essentially say, “He's a nice, dirty God like me.”
God’s goodness leads to repentance.
Every time we wake up, breathe God's air, eat God's food, enjoy health, friendship, provision, and protection from God's hand, we should turn from our sin to God in Christ. We must remember the mercy of God in Christ, as we acknowledge, hate, and turn from our sin and rebellion to Him who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,” to the God who “forgives iniquity, transgression and sin.” May God give us grace to see that his patience is part of his goodness and that his goodness leads to repentance.
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The theologian Herman Bavinck writes: “Why did God create the world? the answer is: Because he so willed.”[1] God didn’t have to tell us why he made the universe, but he wanted us to have specific knowledge about him (special revelation) that we could never acquire from observing and studying the physical world (general revelation).
The Bible begins and ends in a beautiful garden with a life-giving tree located in each one. There is a good reason for this: God created the world for his glory—so that his creation would live unto him, giving him praise in all things. Genesis describes how everything God created was good (Gen. 1). God created humans as his royal image bearers to rule over creation, tend his garden, and care for his creatures—honoring their creator in all. Adam and Eve were righteous and upright, with the full ability to obey God and keep all his commands. After breathing life into the first human,
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:16– 17)
Adam and Eve were responsible to serve God and care for all the creation under their dominion. To prove their faithfulness to their Creator, God gave Adam a test: Adam must obey God’s command to not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in order to eat from the other mentioned tree in the garden—the tree of life (Gen. 2:9)—and live forever in God’s presence.
The Covenant between God and Adam
The relationship that existed between God and Adam had a condition placed upon it, which was Adam’s obedience, as well as a reward for obedience (life) and a consequence for disobedience (death), and Adam represented all of humanity in this covenant. The seventeenth-century theologian Herman Witsius states,
If Adam therefore had persevered in obedience, the law would have brought him to that same inheritance [eternal life], which now in Christ is allotted not to him that worketh, but to him that believeth.[2]
This conditional covenantal relationship Adam had with God is also known as the covenant of works.
Jesus Teaches Us How the World’s Problems Began
There was an enemy in God’s garden—one who had rebelled against God and now sought to bring humanity under his dominion. The serpent, a fallen angel called the devil, wanted the glory for himself (Isa. 14:12–15; Matt. 4:8–10; Luke 4:5–8). He enticed Adam and his wife Eve to disobey God by eating the only forbidden fruit in the entire garden, falsely claiming that the fruit would make them “like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4–5).
The moment Adam and Eve ate the fruit, their eyes were opened—but not in the way Satan led them to believe. They painfully saw the shame of their sin and rebellion against God and attempted in vain to hide from him. Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves, but their own efforts could do nothing to remove their guilt and punishment (Gen. 3:7).
Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, Eve would now bring forth children in increased pain, and her husband would rule over her (Gen. 3:16). God cursed the ground from which Adam must now toil to produce food (Gen. 3:17–18). Then God replaced the man-made fig leaves Adam and Eve wore: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). Finally, God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden and placed an angel to guard the tree of life. Instead of communing daily with God, the sin of the first man and woman made them unworthy to stand in their creator’s holy presence.
Why God’s Punishment Was Just
You might be wondering right now: Did God overreact to Adam and Eve’s sin? The punishment might seem not to fit the offense: a cursed world and humanity estranged from God, and pain, suffering, and death to boot—all for eating some forbidden fruit. Why was Adam and Eve’s disobedience such a terrible transgression against God?
A man named Zacharias Ursinus addressed this very issue back in the sixteenth century. In his commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, Ursinus lists six terrible offenses connected to Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience:
Pride, ambition, and an admiration of self: Man, not satisfied with his own dignity, and in the condition he was placed, desired to be equal with God.
Unbelief: Adam believed the devil rather than God, and ate the forbidden fruit; nor did he believe any punishment would overtake him.
Contempt and disobedience to God: This appears in the fact that he ate the fruit contrary to the command of God.
Ingratitude for benefits received: Even though Adam was made in the image of God—and for the enjoyment of eternal life—his return for this benefit received was to obey the devil rather than God.
Unnaturalness, and the want of love to posterity: Adam did not consider that the gifts God had bestowed upon him and his posterity would be lost not only to himself but also to all his descendants.
Apostasy: By believing and obeying the devil rather than God, Adam wished to obtain equality with God. He set up the devil in the place of God, separating himself from God.[3]
Ursinus rightly concludes, “The fall of man was no trifling, nor singular offense; but it was a sin manifold and horrible in its nature, on account of which God justly rejected him, and all of his posterity.”[4]
Because of Adam’s disobedience and fall, all people bear Adam’s guilt, because Adam represented all humanity. Furthermore, Adam’s sin caused the corruption of his nature, and all his posterity—including you and me—would now bear that same sinful nature. The apostle Paul described the far-reaching consequences of Adam’s rebellion:
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. (Rom. 5:12)
Every Human Being Is Inherently Sinful
In the book of Psalms, King David recognized his inherent sinfulness that was present even before he was born:
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Ps. 51:5)
Some people take the above verse to mean that sex is a sinful act, but that was not at all the point David was making. David understood that he was sinful before he was even born. Because of Adam’s fall, no mere human child has ever been born without sin. There was no way for humans to be right with God again on their own merits, because “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
All our best efforts are tainted by our sinful state. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant believed happiness could be found in human reason, but this quest is doomed to failure before even starting, because the sinful mind is incapable of reasoning in an uncorrupted fashion since the fall in the garden of Eden.
The term original sin describes this present state of humanity’s guilt because of Adam’s sin. The corrupt nature we inherited from Adam also causes us to heap even more condemnation on ourselves due to the sins we each commit from birth until death. The total depravity of humanity, as Michael Horton explains in his book Core Christianity, means that everything we are and do is tainted by sin:
It says that there is nothing within us that is left unfallen from which we might begin to bargain or to restore our condition. It does not mean that every person will indulge in every form of sin or that we cannot admire virtuous character. Humans still possess a conscience and can discriminate between good and evil. We are free to will and choose what our mind and hear desire, but our mind has been darkened and our heart is selfish. Everyone has a natural ability to render God faithful obedience, but after the fall our moral ability is held captive to our own selfishness and idolatry. The fault lies not in that we cannot but that we will not turn from our sin to the living God.[5]
Since God is holy, no one can enter his presence unless they are holy as well (Lev. 20:26; 1 Pet. 1:16). If God had done nothing to help humanity in its fallen state, we would all be under his just punishment, forever cut off from the beauty of God’s perfection, unable to attain—or experience—goodness, truth, and purity. No matter how much we try to cover up or clean up the darkness of our hearts, we remain in bondage to sin and guilty before God—a state of ugliness—the opposite of beauty.
Jesus, the Second Adam, Is Our Only Hope
Thankfully, there is more to the story. Let’s return to what God said in Genesis 2:17 about the consequences that would come from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why didn’t Adam and Eve die on the day they sinned, as God said they would?
There is one key verse in the entire Bible that points us to the only way for people to be returned to a right relationship with God: In Genesis 3:15, a verse known as the protoevangelium (the first announcement in the Bible of the gospel), God pronounces his curse on the serpent, and with the curse is the great promise that summarizes the Bible:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15)
The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden was actually a divine mercy. If Adam and Eve were now to eat from the tree of life, they would be condemned to live forever in their sinful state. Yet, God had a plan all along. Because God is all-knowing, he knew from eternity that Adam would disobey him and that Adam’s only hope—and that of his descendants—could only come from God himself. A second Adam must pass the test Adam failed to pass.
This second Adam—both fully God and fully man, would keep God’s law perfectly and bear the full punishment for sin as the perfect once-for-all sacrifice, so that people could once again be in full communion with their Creator. Adam and Eve would not die right away, because they must bring forth children from whom the Savior would come. Adam showed his faith in God’s promise to save him by naming his wife Eve, which means the mother of all living.
A Divine Mercy
Understanding the conditional aspect of God’s relationship with Adam helps us make sense of why Jesus had to come and fulfill what Adam failed to do. In Jesus, God would finally have a perfectly obedient Son. Jesus’ reward for his obedience would be a kingdom and a people who would reign with him forever.
One reason Jesus spoke in parables is because he didn’t want to reveal everything about what he was going to do (Luke 8:10). His followers might try to make him an earthly king, and that is not why Jesus came. Jesus was indeed a king, but his kingdom was not of this world. As he approached the cross, Jesus spoke more plainly about his mission to redeem the world:
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matt. 16:21)
Without Jesus’ finished work on their behalf, people face more than physical death—they also face God’s righteous wrath and punishment. Jesus came to be far more than a good example: he came to destroy sin, death, and the devil. Jesus came to save us from hell and bring us into the kingdom of God.
This article was originally published on July 5, 2018.
[1] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, vol. 2, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 234.
[2] Herman Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), 74.
[3] Adapted from Zacharias Ursinus, The Commentary of Dr. Zacharius Ursinus, on the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. G. W. Willard, 3rd American ed. (Cincinnati: T. P. Bucher, 1851), exposition on Q. 7: pp. 33-34.
[4] Ursinus, 34.
[5] Michael Horton, Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God’s Story (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 95.
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In some churches the Lord’s Supper is referred to as the “Eucharist” (pronounced yoo-ka-rist). In fact, it is used predominantly in Roman Catholic circles, so Protestants might be prone to have an aversion to such a name. But is it bad? Is it unbiblical? On the contrary, “eucharist” is a helpful term derived from Scripture that gives further insight into how we ought to think about this blessed sacrament.
Background of the Word Eucharist
Eucharist comes from the Greek word eucharisteō, which means “to be thankful on the basis of some received benefit” (Johannes P. Louw, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 299). Jesus uses this word during his ministry at a very interesting point: during the miracle of feeding the four thousand in Mark 8. In verse 6 we read, “And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks [eucharistēsas], he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people.” Here Jesus establishes a practice that many of us (hopefully!) still practice today: giving thanks to God for his provision before we eat a meal.
God Feasts with His People
And yet this particular meal was different from our regular meals at home. At this meal, God came to eat with his people in the flesh. As Jesus fed the four thousand, he foreshadowed that coming day when we would all feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). To eat at the end with God is the sign of ultimate blessing. Isaiah prophesied that at the end of all things, God would feast with his people and this would be the sign of consummate salvation. At this Supper would be the eternal bliss begun and the effects of sin destroyed:
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isa. 25:6–9)
So Much for Which to Be Thankful
Perhaps now we can better appreciate why the term “eucharist” is used. Jesus gave thanks for the food the Father provided to him and to the crowd through him. Do we not have all the more reason to give thanks at the Lord’s Supper? This is truly a Thanksgiving feast unlike any you have ever experienced with family and friends in November.
We give thanks, first of all, that God would allow us filthy sinners to feast with him. But beyond that, we give thanks knowing that when God feeds us we will never hunger again! Mark 8:8 tells us this, “And they ate and were satisfied.” One thinks of David’s words in Psalm 34: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” (vv. 8–10). What reason to rejoice, celebrate, and—most of all—give thanks!
This article was originally published at Beautiful Christian Life on June 13, 2018.
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When we think of compassion we are often considering the compassion humans have for others. A compassionate person is one who is sensitive to the suffering or difficulties of others and empathetically endeavors to meet their needs.
We can better grasp what it means for humans to be compassionate by learning about God's compassion.
Compassion in a person is a very valuable trait. People who aren't compassionate tend to be hardened to others; they lack empathy and show little favor and mercy to those who are in difficult circumstances, either emotional or physical. Human compassion is worthy of close consideration, but what does Scripture teach us about God's compassion?
When Moses asked God to show him his glory, the Lord responded by placing Moses in the cleft of a rock and covering him with his hand while his glory passed by. The protection of the rock and of God himself was necessary because no fallen, sinful human can stand to see God's face and live (Exod. 33:20). Yet, what is most significant is what God said about his goodness:
"I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." (Exod. 33:19)
Grace and mercy are attributes that describe God's compassion.
By his words to Moses, God declared the nature of his goodness, which shows itself in his sovereign graciousness and mercy. Grace and mercy are attributes that describe God's compassion. When Paul refers to this Old Testament scripture in Romans 9:15, he translates it from the Hebrew with the Greek word that commonly means compassion:
For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
When we consider the goodness of God, compassion should come to mind—God's compassion that he shows to those who are his by his mercy and grace. The Bible contrasts God's compassion with that of the wicked. Proverbs 12:10 says,
Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.
The proverb makes the point that regard (i.e., compassion) even extends to animals, but the main point is in the antithetical parallel. In the second part of the verse the word translated "mercy" is sometimes also translated "compassion" (see also Isa. 54:8; Dan. 1:9). In this regard the proverb makes that point that a righteous person even cares about his animal, but the wicked's compassion is cruel. Rather than love, mercy, and grace being the motivations behind compassion, it is cruelty that motivates the apparent compassion of the wicked, which is no compassion at all.
Compassion comes from a sincere, loving, forgiving, and unselfish heart.
God's compassion provides us with the model of what Christian compassion is. Grounded in God's goodness, compassion is merciful and gracious. It comes from a sincere and loving heart that has regard for other people (and even the animals who labor for us) when they may find themselves struggling with the difficulties and sufferings of this world. It looks to another's needs and gives help by meeting those needs.
Loving compassion means giving up ourselves for the good of another person, just as Christ looked to the interests of others and gave up himself to redeem his people from a life of sin and death (Phil 2:4-8). To be like our merciful and gracious Savior, we also need to relate to others with hearts filled with compassion.
This article is adapted from “Our Compassionate God” in BCL's September 2022 Newsletter “Having Compassion.”
