There is a great deal of interest today about exploring one’s ancestry. When did my predecessors come to this country? Have there been any distinguished or notorious people in my background? Have there been any scandals among my forebears? My own surname, Furtado, is a common name in Portugal. It means “thief” or “illegitimate”. Likely there are some skeletons in our family closet.
If each of us could trace our ancestry back far enough, we’d all arrive at the same original parents: Adam and Eve. Because of that, we encounter two of the most significant phrases in the Bible: “in Adam” and “in Christ”.
To make sense of that, consider your grandfather. If he had died as a child, you wouldn’t even be alive to read this blog. So, in a sense, you were “in your grandfather”. Everything that happened to him and who he married has had a direct influence upon who you are. In like manner we were “in Adam” when he was in the Garden of Eden. His disobedience has had a devastating impact upon every aspect of life on this planet.
Being “in Adam” means that I have inherited a disease from him, a sin nature that has been passed on to every individual of every generation. There’s nothing we can do to change that. “Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners.” (Romans 5:19)
Having a sin nature DOES NOT mean that I am going to be a serial murderer. I can still be an honest, generous, law-abiding and respectful person. In fact, most sinners do grow up to be fine, upstanding citizens. Having a sin nature means that I want to live my life without any interference from God. As long as He plays by my rules, fine. But when God asks me to do something that I don’t like, I choose to be in charge of my own life.
Let’s examine the second important phrase, “in Christ”. Whereas being “in Adam” is automatic and happens to all of us, it takes a willful choice to be “in Christ”. Christians use different phrases to explain this choice, “receiving Christ”, “asking Jesus into your heart”, “putting your faith in Jesus”, “trusting the Lord”, but it all comes down to the same thing – accepting that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins and that He was resurrected back to life, and making a personal commitment to Him to follow Him the rest of your life.
What happens when you do that? The Spirit of God immediately places us “in Christ”. From that moment on, everything that Jesus accomplished is applied to you. The verse that we quoted above, reads in its entirety. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many WERE MADE SINNERS, so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus] the many WILL BE MADE RIGHTEOUS.” (Romans 5:19)
We get to choose whether our family tree will be that of Adam or Christ. If you are already a Jesus-follower, you have chosen the better of the two for your ancestry. If you have yet to receive Christ, I hope you’ll do so soon.
No Comments
Leave a comment Cancel