Today was very disappointing because we had planned a very nice birthday party for our son Joshua, who was only asking for donations to Relay For Life instead of birthday gifts. However, after preparing for a large number of people, only key family members showed up for the party. This was very disappointing to him because he was looking forward to celebrating with his friends.

Of course as a parent I became indignant towards those who didn’t show up and hurt my son’s feelings.

However, as I’ve dwelled on the events of today I can’t help but be reminded that due to the curse from God because of Adam’s disobedience,  all of life has become futile.

So the very disappointment Joshua and me both feel is ultimately due to futility as stated in Romans 8:19 -21:

Romans 8:19-21 (English Standard Version)

¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

So my understanding of these verses is that God subjected all of creation to futility, but He did it to give us hope that even though we are cursed,  we could be set free one day.

That hope came to us through Jesus Christ. When he died and was resurrected 3 days later, he purchased hope for everyone who would ever believe on Him so that even though there would be pain, suffering, disappointment, and many other evils on Earth, we would now have hope that one day we will no longer have to live this way.

As Christians we will still feel the effects of the curse and the futility that accompanies it. However, ultimately we have hope that we will be set free from the curse one day when we come face to face with our Savior Jesus Christ.

So when God placed a curse on mankind at the Garden of Eden, it was part of a plan to one day bring hope to us through Jesus Christ. This hope will be complete when God removes sin at the end of the age and everyone who trusted in Christ can enjoy God forever. There is no greater purpose for man than to enjoy God.

So, Christ is the end of futility and the beginning of hope.

Just to make this clear, when Adam sinned against God, God could have just cursed man and left him in his despair and sin without any hope of escape. God would have been totally just to do that. But because God is so loving, He took our evil and turned it for our own good.

What a Glorious God we have!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 12:20 am and is filed under General, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.