A Daily Reminder
A Daily Reminder
by Andrea Brock Denton
I believe that in God’s sovereignty it was not coincidental that a bitten apple became the logo on all our devices. The very objects we hold in our hands almost every moment of each day bear an emblem which represents sin. Sure, we don’t know exactly which fruit Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden, but traditionally, a bitten apple has represented the fall of mankind. We have a daily reminder of sin before our eyes on our devices, and here is why I believe that is important. As much as we depend on our devices to stay connected to people, God wants us to be connected to him first, but we can’t. Sin has severed our relationship with God, and he’s allowed an emblem that represents sin to be before our eyes every day as we hold our devices to remind us that he offered a solution to our sin problem – his Son.
So, we have this logo before us every day to remind us of sin, but do we really understand why sin is a problem? Talking to a group of my Bible students recently, I discovered they could not describe why sin is a problem. Why is understanding our sin problem important? When we understand what sin has done, we recognize our need for a Savior. I do not need deliverance from just mistakes and bad decisions. Honestly, I can sow my way back to better decisions. But, what I cannot do is deliver myself from a severed relationship. I asked my students if they could even imagine the feeling of one of their parents dragging them through their home and out the front door as the parent exclaimed – I cannot be with you anymore! This is the relational status we have with the Almighty, Sovereign God until we allow the blood of Jesus to cover us. We have been kicked out his presence because of sin. The door is shut and locked to sin because our perfect, holy, good, and righteous God cannot even look upon sin. Herein lies the problem with sin. We are eternally separated from God. Unless . . .
. . . we place our faith in Jesus. Yes, sin entered the world when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the forbidden tree, and in turn, every human being brought into the world after them is born a sinner. “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12 ESV) There is a sin problem. We can’t make it through a day without seeing it. It shows up in our families and all of our relationships, at school or in our jobs, at work and at play, in how we handle our finances, when we’re driving, in how we view ourselves and others, and . . . when we’re on our devices.
But, there is hope. God is inviting us back into a relationship with him through the person of Jesus. “The gift [Jesus] is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man [Adam], how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ” (Romans 5:15 NIV) “Hark! The Herald angels sing. ‘Glory to the newborn King!’ Peace on earth, and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled!” “Good news!” declares the Gospel writers and all of the Old Testament stories that foreshadow a coming Savior. Our severed relationship with the only One who will fully satisfy us has been restored through the person of Christ. And if we place our faith in Jesus, God lets us back into his house, his presence.
I hear God speaking to us through a bitten apple logo. I hear him saying – Remember. Remember how your first parents made the wrong choice in the Garden. Remember how they chose temporary satisfaction from a tree I asked them to avoid. Just as I placed a tree in the Garden not to tempt man, but to test him, I have placed things in your life to test you and your trust in me. I want you and all of you – all of your trust and all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I want to be in a relationship with you. I have given you, just as I gave Adam and Eve, everything you need to live a happy, complete, and satisfied life. Yet, you’re stretching out your arm for what can never fully satisfy you. You’re fixated on the wrong tree, and I’ve left you a daily reminder to remind you that I want you back in a relationship with me because I am the One who will ultimately satisfy and fulfill you.
Let the logo you see every day remind you to fall, over and over again, back into a relationship with God. The one who is calling you back to himself is the very One who provided the Way for you to get back to him.
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