Meet Sam Shelton

Say you go to the doctor for a follow-up exam where you’ll receive your test results. You’ve felt great—apart from little aches and pains here and there—and you can’t imagine that the doctor will have anything worthwhile to say. The doctor, however, has already seen the results, and the stage 4 malignant cancer means your time on earth is quickly coming to an end unless you take his chemo regimen that has been proven 100% effective. What’s the most loving thing he could tell you? “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’re fine—enjoy your life!”? Of course not! He’d tell you, with the utmost seriousness, that you are on a path to death. But then his tone would immediately change to joy because he’s got the cure!

This is what God is doing in this verse. Adam’s sin set off a chain reaction of more sin, destruction, and death that continues in every person to this day. Adam and Eve believed that God was trying to steal their joy in the garden with the forbidden fruit, and that the path of sin would give more joy and pleasure. How wrong they were! Yet, all of us have followed their same path (Romans 3:23) and traded the joy found only in relationship with God for that which could never satisfy—and we’ve all seen the death and destruction it has brought to our lives.

But praise God the story doesn’t end there! Just as God pursued Adam and Eve in the garden after the horrible sin they’d just committed (Genesis 3:9), He pursues us even while we’re stuck in the death and destruction we’ve created for ourselves because of our sin (Romans 5:8). God enters into our mess and extends His perfect love to undeserving sinners like you and me, graciously offering eternal life and joy with Him if we will receive His gift. Similar to the cancer patient who faces death without the needed treatment, we already are spiritually dead unless we accept God’s free cure by trusting in Christ. Praise God He’s the Good Physician!