Romans 5:18 “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”
The first week of the new year has provided the following:
A frozen pipe threatening to release an unwanted gush of water into our upstairs bedroom. A dishwasher that seems to be operating on lukewarm. A mysterious sound in the refrigerator door. Not to mention after several attempts of trying to buy tickets online, I get to the last step and find the screen staring at me blankly rather than saying, “your purchase has been completed!” And why is my laptop “reconfiguring” for hours only to begin the process again the next day? Glitches. First-world glitches, but glitches nonetheless. No matter our culture, malfunctions of all sorts accompany our human activity.
If we’re not careful, we can let glitches consume us. But I think God has something different in mind. We have to go back to the first and biggest glitch of all in order to understand: the Fall of man (Genesis 3). Now that’s a glitch in the system.
God created a “glitch-free” world. But not a robotic one. Giving man free-will choices was always an integral part of his plan. When Adam chose to follow his own desires rather than obey God’s commands, he set in motion consequences that continue to plague us. But God also set a plan in motion to rescue us from those consequences.
He met the glitch with grace. As Paul writes, Adam’s one trespass led to the condemnation of the whole human race, but Jesus’ one act of righteousness through his death and resurrection led to justification for all.
Life in a fallen world means much of it doesn’t flow as originally intended. Grace, however, enables us to deal with all those glitches in the system, from computers crashing to tires going flat. If we choose it. The same free will presented to Adam is offered to us today. When confronted with inevitable breakdowns and frustrating circumstances we have a choice to react in anger or stop and ask God for grace to deal with it.
A remarkable thing happens when we choose the latter. We change into something better. Something a little more holy. A little more reflective of our redeeming Father. So the next time you encounter a glitch in the system, ask God to use it for good.