Read: Genesis 3:14-15
The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
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.”
Ponder:
Things were good. They were better than good. They were great. Perfect, in fact. But then Adam and Eve took a left turn when they should have taken a right. They succumbed to the temptation of the serpent. Snap! Beauty was broken. A garden that was once filled with life and goodness and love was now filled with sin and death and strife. This brokenness continues to this day; we all experience it.
We try escaping brokenness by focusing on our career, gaining money, finding the perfect relationship, overachieving, drugs, gambling, sexual pleasure, alcohol, etc. But all this just leads to greater brokenness. Each of us has rebelled against God and walked away from His perfect design. The Bible calls this rebellion sin, and this leaves us—all of us—in brokenness, separated from Him.
God knew we could not escape our brokenness on our own, so God demonstrated His love towards us! God sent Jesus to the earth. That’s what Christmas is about. God, in the flesh, born of a virgin. This same Jesus grew up in wisdom and stature. He was perfect and lived a perfect life because He was God. He suffered a horrible death on a cross to take our sin upon Himself. He rose again proving that He has power over death! He is alive!
Jesus tells all people to repent and turn from their sins. He also tells us to believe that He died for our sin and that God raised Him from the dead. We are called to follow Jesus as king of our life. Jesus promises that if we turn and believe in Him, we transform from being spiritually dead to being alive in Christ. We are forgiven and restored back to God’s design. As a result, we are restored into a relationship with God. More than that, He commands us to tell others this good news.
Pray:
God, with you, and only in you, there is hope and life. Always. When life seems pointless, when there seems to be no reason to go on, when the brokenness seems too broken, you bring us hope. When the darkness creeps in and I can no longer see the path in front of me, I’m tempted to give up. Yet, this Advent I choose to remember the hope I have in Jesus. He has overcome evil and death. He has brought life! Father, help me, today, to choose Jesus!
