As children of God, we benefit daily from him. Daily we sin whether we want to admit it or not! Be it a Bishop, Apostle, Deacon, it does not matter about our position, we are prone to sin. “We sin daily! even by looking at certain things. You see, we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity as the word of God (the Bible) clearly states. We like to classify it as the “Adamic nature” but I beg to differ. You see, when God created Adam, he was sinless, and so was Eve. They were perfect! If we go back into the Garden of Eden, there were only four people there, three of which were sinless - God, Adam and Eve. Then, there was also, the devil….he was and still is full of sin!
Man (Adam and Eve), let’s say especially Eve (woman) had a level of curiosity in them or the desire to be recognized. After all, we were created in the “likeness of God”. God need to be recognized daily…. in the form of worship; God desires worship. With this desire, Satan knew what he could do with it and so, he quickly made his move! To influence the woman, then she in turn influence her husband hence, we fell from grace. So with all that being said, I would like to say we were born with “Satanic nature” because he (Satan) was the original sinner and NOT Adam.
God knew what took place, he knew where Adam was even though he asked “Adam, where are you?” I believe this was just so that Adam can recognize where he himself was and admit it. Because only in admitting where we are, what state we are in, can God begin to heal, deliver or in one word, rescue us.
God, in his infinite wisdom had already prepared a way of escape from eternal damnation for Adam. If we notice, once Adam recognized that he was “naked” God provided him “cover” (mercy) God’s compassion stepped in immediately and gave Adam a second chance. Even though Adam had to toil for a living and Eve gave birth in pain as a consequence of their disobedience, they were rescued from eternal damnation by mercy.
Today, it is no different than over two thousand years ago. We go about our daily lives as children of God (chosen), but not without sin. We might look at the situation very lightly and decide it is not sin but in the eyes of our Creator God, it is sin. Hence, it is rather imperative for us to constantly keep a repentive heart, like the manner of King David. In being repentive, we recognize our state and then we invite God to provide us with covering (mercy) once we recognize/admit, there will be therefore be no condemnation to those of us that are in Christ Jesus; as it is written in the Word of God (the Bible).
You see, God knows us……. We are no surprise to God; we can be a surprise to our own selves but never to God. This is so easy to understand. The Apostle Paul wrote “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” Why do you think he had to write that? I believe he himself experienced the “Satanic nature” daily hence he admitted that he needs God’s mercy daily. After all, being an apostle/leader of any sort is not a piece of cake. We deal with people and situations every single day of our lives. We have to make decisions daily and sometimes for us sincerely we think we made the right decision but on the other hand, we might hurt someone in the decision we made, or even our self, or break a part of God’s commandment. Did you know that knowing that we should pray and the fact that we don’t feel like praying for whatever reason and we do not pray, that is a sin?
Yes, it is, we take from God what he requires of us at a specific moment/time because of our own selfish reason. I don’t feel good, I am upset, I am depressed, I am too busy, I am too tired and the list goes on….
If God were to judge us on that alone, how many of us can say we are not guilty??? Hmmm. But, God’s mercy covers all that; every time we recognize/admit that we falter. Make no mistake! This is not a free ticket to say you can go on and sin because the nature is in you and God knows. There is such a thing called “presumptuous sin”. But for us it means that in the purity of our hearts and the strong desire to serve God and at our best efforts, we still have short comings.
Mercy has a companion; it is called Grace; one does not go without the other. So wherever God’s mercy shows, God’s grace flows. We don’t have to live in guilt and serve God in guilt. This is what the devil who is the enemy of our souls wants; the devil wants us to hide, just like he had Adam hiding, but thank God, He came calling to Adam, he knew Adam needed help (mercy), but he wanted him (Adam) to admit he needed help. Once we are in guilt, we will never approach God’s throne and when we stay away from God we sink deeper into what has taken a hold of us. But the moment we recognize where we are and listen to deep within our soul where God is always calling, we will answer, “I AM NAKED“. God knows immediately we are asking for covering, we will see how quickly Mercy will come running to us with Grace. THIS IS THE POWER OF GOD’S MERCY! It will deliver, cover us. In short, rescue us every time we call out in sincerity for help.