A Better Way

Sin says, "I know a better way."   Such an understanding of sin is as old as sin itself.  It was likely first uttered in the Garden of Eden when the Lord God showed up one evening looking for conversation with the man and the woman who had been entrusted with keeping the Garden.  Whatever they wished to eat was theirs with the exception of the fruit from one tree.  The woman heard what God said, but her taste buds, her eyes, her desire to be wise, and the subtle word twisting of Satan brought her to the place of putting the food in her mouth and in the hands of her husband.  Of course, in the moment of confrontation, the man blamed the woman and the woman blamed the serpent.  Both might well have said, "But, Lord God.....it was good."

 

Too often we realize too late that what we perceive to be the better way is not really the good way.  Too often we realize that our insistence on having life our way is a one way street to separating ourselves from the very One who created us within an order that enables us to know life at its best. We just cannot seem to believe that it is true.  Like Adam and Eve, we decide that there must surely be a better way, a more secure way, a happier way, a more satisfying way and at least for awhile we justify ourselves by declaring to God, "But,...it was good."  But, there finally comes that moment of being alone with ourselves before God when we realize He is not going to wink at our disobedience and pretend it is no big deal.  It is a horrible moment.  It is a moment of choosing to ignore the reality of the sin in our life, or dealing with it.   One way digs a deeper hole.  The other way gets us out.

 

The way out of the mess sin causes is the cross upon which Jesus, the Son of God, was crucified.  As sinners we do not want to look because it means acknowledging that we cannot help ourselves.  We are powerless to extricate ourselves from the power of our guilt and the consequences of our sin.  We are faced in that moment with the choice of calling out for mercy from the One who died there, or going on as one so foolish as to declare to the Almighty Creator of the universe, "I know a better way."