You already know the story about Adam and Eve who were appointed to oversee and bring life to God’s Garden — the garden of Eden, i.e., they were gardeners.
But you might’ve missed the final chapter in that story when the women came to Jesus’ tomb and seeing Jesus outside the tomb, thought he was the gardener, i.e., Jesus was appointed to bring life to God’s people through his resurrection from the grave.
Then Paul, in his letter to the Romans, sums up that life in three words — integrity, responsibility, and an eternal perspective.
“In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus. Sin must no longer rule in your mortal bodies, so that you obey the desires of your natural self.”
— Romans 6: 11-12
Christian transformation replaces the deception of sin with the integrity of righteousness… the root of every ethical and moral question is truth.
“When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. What did you gain from doing the things that you are now ashamed of? The result of those things is death.”
— Romans 6: 20-21
Christian transformation replaces the slavery of sin with the responsibility of righteousness… and we’re reminded that the path of sin leads to death but the journey to righteousness is paved with responsibility.
“But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life. For sin pays its wage-death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.”
— Romans 6: 22-23
Christian transformation replaces the temporary view of sin with the eternal perspective of righteousness.
I remember being told the most significant difference between the sinful life and the righteous life is sin can only look at the present because “… the wages of sin is death. But the righteous can look into eternity because “the free gift of God (that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers) is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Charles Finney went to law school and spent his life searching for truth in the law. He’d never owned a Bible, but bought one as one more reference book for his legal library. Then one day he and began to read, and the more he read, the more he read.
Gradually, the Word of God began to soften his hard heart until one day he gave his life to Jesus and said goodbye to his law practice. Later, he’d say he was on retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to represent him to the world, preaching across America and later to the British Isles, reaching more people with the gospel than anyone in his generation.
Right now, in your life, Jesus will replace the deception of sin with the integrity of righteousness, the slavery of sin with the responsibility of righteousness, and the temporary view of sin with the eternal perspective of righteousness, and all you have to do is ask him!
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
