Let’s remember the greatest failure — and see how we keep on repeating the same mistake over and over again.
One day in the Garden of Eden, questions were raised by mankind:
What if God was wrong? What if we can gain knowledge and not die?
Well, we all know where this story goes. They ate the forbidden fruit, gained knowledge, and knew they were naked. God knew their disobedience, and they were cast out from the Garden of Eden.
Everyone knows this story. And, literally, everyone blames Adam and Eve for what happened. Sure, if they didn’t disobey, we would have been eating different kinds of fruits in Eden. Imagine: If one mistake was never made, poverty would never have happened. Corruption would never have happened. War would never have happened. We wouldn’t have to face death.
It was just a mistake, and we blame them for that.
Well, say that to your own “fruit of knowledge.”
Because, come to think of it, the blame game is the oldest game of humanity.
One particular part of the story that catches my eye is the part where God asked Adam:
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (Genesis 3:11, NIV)
Then Adam, uses his newfound knowledge — instead of saying “Yes, I ate it because I want knowledge,” or “I was curious,” or ”I think you were lying about dying” — to turn the blame to God Himself saying,
“The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12, NIV)
In modern language, it’s like saying, “It’s not my fault; it is her fault, and You gave her to me, which means the root of all this is You!”
Sound familiar? Of course. All of us have said this particular sentence: It is not my fault.
We sometimes blame God by saying, “If He is good, why doesn’t He help the poor?” On the other hand, we are the ones who never help the poor.
We think that our fault is just the fragment of the problem, using our knowledge to justify this — without even realizing that in gaining the knowledge, we become foolish.
I think the reason why we misused our knowledge is that our intentions were corrupt. Mankind took knowledge to be like God. But I think — this is just my theory — that, in God’s perfect time, He will let us eat this fruit to gain the knowledge of Him. He wants us to have the desire to eat this fruit of knowledge with the desire of knowing Him more — knowing the truth, because He is the truth.
Now, we have the entire history of misused knowledge — war, corruption, crime, illnesses, etc. Everything focuses on selfishness. And when you ask people why they commit these crimes against each other, they will say, “It is not my fault.”
Then came the Savior, boldly saying, “You have sinned!” Then everyone turned a blind eye and crucified Him.
Because we belittle our sin. As if it is a small portion of the entire sin of mankind. We thought we didn’t need saving.
“Grace” is “Amazing” because it pays for “Enormous Sin.”
It means we can’t blame anyone but ourselves. It means we are not ready for the knowledge we have — that the capacity of our brain is small enough for the knowledge we get because of our ambitious desire.
We kept on saving ourselves and thought that the knowledge we have can save us — that it can bring us back to life.
But knowledge can’t bring us back to life. Grace can.
Because it will surely end. Misery will become suffering for a purpose. Grace will give us hope that whatever happens, Jesus will hold us in His hands. I don’t have to blame someone. Jesus knows my sin. I can be honest with Him about my sin — about my mistake — and He will save me from those sins. He doesn’t tolerate them. He hates them. That is why He paid a great price to remove the chains they wrap around me.
It means we see people as those who don’t understand the knowledge they have. Because what is knowledge without the truth? That must be our main goal. Giving them Jesus, the Truth, will calm their minds full of misunderstood knowledge.
Everything will make sense.
It means accepting the plan of God. It means the knowledge we got from a mistake will be corrected because there is a future.
Sin is my past. I know, I accept, that it is a part of me, but it is not my future.
I think history sets the record straight. We were never saved by blaming others. The mistake just keeps on rolling and pushing other people in a domino effect. And when our mistakes get back to us we blame others, and the cycle continues.
Being saved by grace means we need to break this cycle of hurting other people.
This cycle is the chain that binds this planet in destruction. And, as the salt of this earth, we are to protect it with our lives. We can still fulfill the work that was assigned to Adam. We can still subdue the earth.
In the end, goodness prevails. God’s plan will happen. No matter how far we run from God, He finds a way to reach us. That is love. That is Amazing Grace — the grace that reminds us that we don’t have to use our knowledge to win a case to prove we are not guilty; rather, our case is won when we plead guilty and the Judge says:
Forgiven.