This month’s residency read is Sinclair Ferguson’s The Christian Life. Chapter 2 confronts the reader with the reality of our need:
What if, instead of reflecting his glory, man begins to reflect the very antithesis of God? What if God’s image becomes an anti-God? This, essentially, is the affront which fallen man is to God. He takes all that God has lavished upon him to enable him to live in free and joyful obedience, and he transforms it into a weapon by which he can oppose his Maker. The very breath which God gives him thousands of times each day he abuses by his sin. The magnitude of his sin is also the measure of his need of salvation. The wonder of God’s saving purpose lies in the fact that he longs more than we imagine to restore what has been lost. But the old creation must pass away, and a new one be established; what was lost in Adam must be restored in Christ if there is to be any hope of sharing the glory of God from which we have fallen.
Sinclair Ferguson, “The Christian Life”, p11
This Sunday, Easter Sunday, we have a ready reminder of the resurrection of Jesus. One day, Jesus’ church will share in that resurrection. But even now, we can experience a recovery as we are united to the one who has conquered the grave. Even now we can begin to know, love, and worship the only wellspring of salvation. Even today we can begin to find our deepest satisfaction in the Father, as he lavishes his love and grace on us, having freed us from the dominion of sin, the bondage of our wills, and the wrath that is sin’s due.
