Romans 5:12-21: Part 3

Tired. I can genuinely say that at the age of 30 I am tired of this world. I didn’t say that I am tired of life. That is something different altogether, but I have grown weary of this world. I’m tired of broken things, broken marriages, broken friendships, broken spirits, broken hearts, broken bones, broken cars. I’m tired of seeing life sucked out this world through old age, decay and rot, thorns and weeds, disease and death. I’m tired of reading the newspaper, tired of watching the nightly news report, tired of hearing local, national, and international problems with no solution on the horizon. I’m tired of war, tired of poverty, tired of genocide, tired of racism, tired of baby killing. I’m tired of lies, spin, manipulation, hatred, spite, and rudeness. I’m tired of autism, cancer, Aids, malaria, and heart failure. I’m tired of blowing my temper, being self-absorbed, battling lust, failing again and again to love my family sacrificially. Honestly, I’m tired of me. That is, to us the biblical term, my “flesh.” And the more I live, the more tired of all of this I become. There is so much of this world that I loathe with pure, irrepressible hatred, which is why I find Romans 5:12-21 so comforting.

Much More. I say I’m tired of sin and evil, and Paul says “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” I say I hate death; Paul says, “much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” He doesn’t say that Christ’s death and resurrection neutralizes sin and death, or that it creates a level playing field of opportunity for us. He doesn’t even say that it merely obliterates evil and death. He says that through Christ the free gift of righteousness and life abounds much more. Jesus didn’t just pulverize our sin and condemnation; He turns it on its head. I picture the world on a numerical lines slowly drifting further and further into the negative. Negative 6, negative 7, slowly picking up the pace and moving ever further from zero. Through the massive work of Jesus, however, God takes the world and not only pulls it out of the negative, but places it around a thousand and sets it on an infinite progression in the positive.

Floods and Faucets. I find this so practical. Paul is saying that the degree to which I loathe the private and public, local, national, and international horrors of this world, is massively less than the degree to which I will rejoice in the new and coming state of affairs. I can hardly imagine an intensity of feeling comparable to the revulsion we feel towards say ethnic cleansing or child sex-trafficking, but one day we will feel something far more intense--joy. The good that is coming will make all the evil, suffering, loss, and pain of this present world seem like a very small thing. I don’t mean it will be less hated, or that it will be even less significant. In fact, I think that the horrors of today will be more revolting in the new heaven and new earth. But the torrential downpour of life, righteousness, and joy that will saturate us an all things will make this present darkness seem like a dripping faucet.