Sometimes a single impulsive action can have larger than life consequences. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they probably weren't thinking that people like you and me would still be negatively affected thousands of years later.

Eternally affected thousands of years later, really.

But sometimes a single purposeful, planned action can also have larger than life consequences. When Jesus became human, it was because of a plan -- one that God had laid out to reverse the effects of the single act of Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve's act had brought about so much unnecessary destruction. Jesus' righteous life, and his innocent sufferings and death, brought about so much necessary redemption.

Jesus has the last word. Grace wins over sin.

And that remains true in your life as well. Grace wins over sin, over shame, over guilt, over weakness and over death.

Grace wins every time!

"Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:18-21, NIV).

Our Bible reading for Sunday, July 19, is Amos 8:1 - 9:15, Romans 5:12-21 and Proverbs 17:15-24.

Jesus, thank you for loving the world. Thank you for loving me. Help me to remember what you've done for me when guilt, shame and weakness threaten to overwhelm me. Let me rest in your grace. Amen

Header image based on "Love the World" by jennie-o, CC By 2.0