No One Escapes the Bug

Recently a crazy bug swept through our extended family – striking without warning, and one-by-one every single person fell prey. None were spared. It made me think of a far worse bug, ruthless and relentless: SIN. Since patient zero, Adam, no one has escaped it. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned-" (Romans 5:12). There is no escaping it. Even Paul, committed to incredible self-control and ritual, admitted, "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:19). Worse still, the Sin bug doesn't just cause nausea – it results in death. So like Paul we cry, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" (Romans 7:24). We have the Sin virus; we are going to die. Yet Paul turns to good news: there is a cure – not rituals or willpower, but associating with the only person who never sinned, Jesus. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2). When we fail, remember: the cure is not what we do, but what Jesus has already done – "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23). What a gift! (Craig B). Open Bible – bit.ly/Rom5v12, bit.ly/Rom7v19, bit.ly/Rom7v24, bit.ly/Rom8v1-2, bit.ly/rom6v23