May 6 – Sin and a Way Out (Proverbs 8)

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
(Proverbs 8:17)

IN WORD:
Though the bad news is devastating — that we are, in our sinful nature, contrary to God’s character and out of line with His foundation of wisdom — the good news is that we can change. Wisdom does not remain forever elusive, no matter how firmly we have rejected it in the past. Even if folly has hounded us for years, we can still turn in a single moment to the voice of wisdom calling from the streets. It is not too late to become unfit for a sinful world and fit for the Kingdom of God.
The wisdom of God will lead us to the cross of Jesus, of course. That is where all of our former futility is redeemed and our rebellion forgiven. A humble bow before the sacrificial Lamb will cleanse us of the muck of this world and put us on a path of discipleship. But once we have passed through that Cross, we must cultivate our love for the eternal. We must pursue wisdom with a passion. We must become enamored with the righteous ways of the world as it was meant to be. When we do, we will find it.

IN DEED:
If you are ever lacking in perspective, read the first 2 and the last 2 chapters of the Bible. Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22 are pictures of perfection. From paradise to paradise, from the Garden of Eden to the city of God, from the dust of the earth to the bride of Christ, wisdom rules. Take away the huge parentheses on the sin problem — Genesis 3 through Revelation 20 — and you’ll clearly see the holiness of God and the beauty of His handiwork. It’s often hard, in this parenthetical interim, to see such beauty but it’s there./ It’s our origin and our destiny, all rolled into one.
As you read those 4 chapters, the eternal bookends on either side of the temporal sin-problem, let your love grow deep for your Creator & Redeemer. As a plant stretches toward the sunlight, let your life grow toward His wisdom. Open up before Him, and let yourself love His ways.

“A sight of His crucifixion crucifies sin.” -Charles Spurgeon-