Are You Struggling Underneath Your Own Failures?
In big block letters, Dad wrote Matt and I a silly yet touching roses-are-red, violets-are-blue poem many Christmases ago, when we were young and had gotten ourselves in credit card debt. The poem spoke of Dad’s desire to pay off our credit card as a Christmas present. This man, who had labored hard for his money and did not live by debt, allowed his own bank account to kindly overflow onto us, without even the hint of a lecture about our foolish money management. He had nothing but love and good will and the spirit of a heroic rescuer.
I think of my dad when I read these simple words in Romans 5:15: But the gift is not like the trespass.
We all know about the trespass. It was that one sin of Adam that caused all of the suffering of death onto mankind. It’s the reason why Matt and I made trips to two different pharmacies yesterday, because slowly the body wears out as the number of days on this earth gets shorter. It’s the reason why someone tried to assassinate the president the other day. It’s the reason why Mother’s Day is sad for so many people. It’s the reason why we find ourselves enslaved to credit card companies, in despair of ever getting out of debt. Nobody has to preach us a sermon about the waves of misery that entered the world because of that one sin and the very deserved condemnation from God that comes with it.
But the gift? It’s not like that.
The gift is like one very rich, generous dad paying off two foolish kids’ credit cards without scolding. A happy dad, to see the overwhelming relief on the faces of that young couple who didn’t have two cents to rub together.
One man delivered the gift, for sure.
One action, just like the trespass.
But what overflowed was grace and righteousness. The love of the Father poured out in the gift of his Son, where well-deserved judgment used to be. All of a sudden, the children have no more debt. It’s just gone. And in its place is a ridiculous abundance of grace and freedom to live and hope and enjoy a fresh start.
All week I’ve been saying over and over to myself,
The gift is not like the trespass.
The gift is not like the trespass.
The gift is not like the trespass.
Maybe you feel the weight of your own sin and failures. I’m here today to help you see the gift. Remember? It’s different than the guilt and shame we used to have to carry to our grave. In honor of my dad, let me end with a poem:
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
God forgives you.