Where’s the Hope?
LYNN COWELL            

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

How had it all happened? What had she started?

It seemed like such a good idea at the time — the right idea. But then, as soon as Adam also took a bite, Eve knew. They both knew. They had been so very, very wrong. And now the damage was spinning out of control. Those intimate conversations with the Lord were no more. Home was no longer home.

And now this.

Her older son killing her younger. The unraveling wouldn't stop, and she knew the falling apart had started with her. As Ephesians 2 describes the situation, Eve was now dead in trespasses and sins, “following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2, ESV).

Was there to be no hope?

Have you ever experienced a pain similar to Eve’s? The knowing that it all began with you? If only you had made the right choice when you had the chance.

But you didn't.

And now …

It doesn’t have to be just “big things.” The small habit that became big. The distance that grew more than the day before. Our mind drags us back to all the tiny things, one wrong choice after another, that led to this. The hundreds of tiny failures that have brought us to this hurt we are experiencing today. This disappointment. This brokenness. This failure.

I think I understand Eve a bit.

Not the depth of pain she would have experienced with losing a child, but the possible wondering, Is all this — this huge mess — my fault? We are trained that “success” and “failure” all come down to someone. Someone gets the credit, and someone takes the blame.

The amazing thing is, there is One who gets the credit and who took the blame.

Jesus. He gets the credit for loving us when we were unlovable, and He took the blame for our sin that was not His own.