No Condemnation

Knowing how many mothers frequently deal with guilt and feelings of inadequacy, I can't help but wonder about Eve and what kinds of feelings she possibly dealt with regarding her own children and grand children. After all, if she had made a different choice that day, her children would never have suffered or struggled as I'm sure they did. The lamentation of "If only I had..." was more than likely a frequent cry in her heart.

Can you imagine?

Many women also can relate to another choice Eve made. That was the choice to deliberately tempt a man to sin by presenting to him something that was forbidden.

The mixture of feelings of power and disgust over his weakness to resist her, coupled with tramendous guilt for having used her God given beauty and Adam's love and trust in her, to do something so devastating must have consumed her at times.

I'm pretty sure she loathed herself and was filled with regret and self hatred. Like many woman today who misuse their beauty and wiles to cause men to stumble, I'm sure she found that the "prize" was not worth the consequence of having her world destroyed, losing everything. And I'm sure she daily wished she could turn back the clock and erase her moment of failure.

Such sorrow and guilt could only be aleviated by the promise of the God who had created the perfect world she'd lost. The tears that she thought she'd drown in could only be dried by the hand of He who promised to make it right again. But that promise, though it may have given her hope, did not change the fact that daily she faced the evidences of her failure... her lust...her rebellion. And were it not for that promise, she, like any of us, would have been consumed by the cold hard truth that she was the reason for her circumstances.

When we sin, and must live with the consequences of our sin, there is only one way, one remedy given, to overcome the crushing guilt and regret that would consume us. We must go to the God, who made us, and seek Him. We must own our guilt, carrying it close to our hearts long enough to be able to bring it to the foot of the cross personally, where we can lay it down at the feet of Jesus. We can not toss it aside or blame someone else for our situation as both Adam and Eve tried to do.  No, we must carry it to the cross personally.  And there, at the Cross of Christ we'll find that, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)  At the same time, we'll find strength to press on in the power and promise that Jesus has redeemed us and enables us to overcome sin.