And the Lord God commanded the man, \u201cYou are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.\u201d
Genesis 2:16-17<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today marks the first day of Lent. Observing Lent has not been part of my tradition, just as Advent has not been. I wrote a blog<\/a> about Lent a decade ago, so I guess it\u2019s time again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many churches observe the imposition of ashes<\/a>, with these words: \u201cRemember you are dust and to dust you shall return.\u201d It is a reference to the judgement pronounced on Adam in Genesis 3:19 after his rebellion to God\u2019s command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve never participated in that particular ritual, but the allusion to the Genesis creation account resonated with me today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been meditating on how little salvation means to me. I don\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t care. My words will say that Jesus\u2019 death for my sins is the most important thing in the universe. Yet my heart has a hard time feeling it. I have to conclude from this that I\u2019m just not that convicted about my sin. I\u2019m a pretty good guy; let\u2019s face it, we Pharisees<\/a> have a lot to be proud of. That\u2019s not to say that I reject the doctrine that \u201call have sinned\u201d (Romans 3:23), but to me sin is just a word I use to describe myself in the abstract. It doesn\u2019t touch me viscerally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you read God\u2019s command to Adam honestly, you have to say, \u201cReally? Eating from that tree carries a death sentence? What kind of power trip are you on? How can it be such a big deal?\u201d Maybe the Queen of Hearts might say such a thing, but the loving creator of the universe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chances are, unless I am unique, some similar kind of rationalization of your sin continues to this day. \u201cYes, I was harsh to my spouse\/child\/employee\/boss, but they pushed me too far.\u201d \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t give my employer a full day\u2019s work, but I worked harder than most of the others.\u201d \u201cOf course I took some office supplies home; no one really cares.\u201d And so it goes. We don\u2019t see sin as really that terrible. Certainly not worthy of death. So it\u2019s hard to connect emotionally with the idea that I deserve eternal torment for my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem is, my standard is not the one I\u2019m accountable to. God\u2019s standard is clear. From the beginning, the wages of sin have been death (Romans 6:23). What we miss as we gloss over the Genesis account is that Adam\u2019s actions were high treason against the Kingdom (rule, authority, dominion) of God. While Adam was given dominion over the creation, he himself remained subject to his creator. In defying the only prohibition given to him, he removed himself from under that authority and placed himself on equal footing with the Lord of Hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not convinced? High treason<\/a> is a crime that undermines the offender\u2019s government, or criminal disloyalty to one\u2019s country. This pretty accurately describes the actions of Adam and Eve. Under English common law, punishment for treason generally included drawing, hanging, beheading, and quartering. All at once? That sounds harsh. Is that really what sin is? Connect the dots for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the serpent tempted the woman, she countered with a more-or-less accurate representation of the command. The serpent flatly contradicted God in asserting, \u201cYou will not surely die.\u201d (Genesis 3:4). So now they were faced with the choice of remaining in obedience to God, submitting to his rule and authority, or of believing the serpent and grabbing all the gusto. In rejecting God\u2019s command, they rejected his authority, his right to make the rules. They set themselves up as independent, superior authorities. In other words, they said, \u201cI know what you said God, but I have a better idea. My way is better than yours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n