God Dealt With It

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. – Romans 8:3 (NRSV)

Does this make you celebrate? What does it mean to you that God has dealt with all sin? What does it mean to you that God has dealt with your sin? Do you live your life in the freedom of this Gospel?

My first year of seminary was bad for me. I was struggling with my sense of call in a place where I did not know and with people I was not sure I liked. I did not know what to do. Each day got a little worse as I felt more and more alone in my struggle.
One day my mother called me and asked me how I was doing. I told her I was not doing very well, and that I thought I was going to have to leave. My physical and mental health were taking a beating, and to save myself I was convinced I was going to have to quit.
Being a proper mother bear type my mother said, “I’ll deal with it.” I had no idea what she meant, but she hung up the phone saying, “I love you, tomorrow it will be better.”
The next day I received a call from the clerk of session at my home church who said, “I’ve talked to your mother, we are going to make things better.” I then got a call from the pastor who said, “I’ve talked to your mother, we’re going to support you better.” Next the executive presbyter called who said, “I’ve talked to your mother.” Then the head of the Committee on Preparation for Ministry, “Your mother called me.” Next a liaison I didn’t know I had, “I just talked to your mother.”
You know what? Things got better.

I know I am not alone in having a mother who was able to deal with things I could not. When we found ourselves mired in sin God became a mother bear unwilling to let her cubs suffer alone. So what did God do? He dealt with it once and for all! God came down as a person like you and like me. Christ took it all and died, and when he died our sin died. Jesus came back from the dead and sin did not. Rejoice and never stop rejoicing because God dealt with the sin that we could not!

With hope and joy,
Garrett