Back On Track — A LifeWords Devotion

And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. (NLT)

If you have ever observed a model railway in action, you may have seen the engine come off the rails. When it does so, it drags all the other carriages in the train off the tracks as well. One derailment causes multiple derailments.

This is what happened when the first human beings decided they knew best and determined to live independently of God. The Bible calls that ‘sin’. When they went off the rails, they dragged the rest of humanity down with them. The result being estrangement from God now and forever. Cut off from the source of everlasting life, our life span is confined to our mortal life here on earth.

Enter Jesus. He obeyed God perfectly, he paid the penalty for our own self-assertion when he died on the cross. He demonstrated the rightness and effectiveness of what he had done on the cross by coming back to life. Jesus undid what Adam did. And because of that all who trust in him and seek to follow him will have everlasting life.

Each of us belongs to either Adam or Jesus. By birth we belong to Adam and thus go off the rails. We have the choice of belonging instead to Jesus by a spiritual rebirth. Our normal human nature takes us off track; the new nature given us by Jesus gets us back on track.

Blessings
David