By Jill A. Williams
Deadly concoctions
Do you remember how the Powerpuff Girls were created?
“Sugar, spice, and everything nice
These were the ingredients chosen
To create the perfect little girls
But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient
to the concoction – Chemical X
Thus, The Powerpuff Girls were born…”
(Powerpuff Girls theme Song)
Sometimes, concoctions are put together to create amazing inventions (like superheroes); and at other times, perfectly ‘deadly’ creations… “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” (Proverbs 6:16-19) Ever heard of the 7 Deadly Sins? These are sins commonly known by society and literature as Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Laziness, Wrath, Envy and Pride. Although the Bible does not make explicit mention of these seven sins by their commonly-known collective name, these sins are made mention of in many verses, including Proverbs 6:16-19, Colossians 3:8 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 as things that the Lord “hates”.
What is so deadly about sin? I mean, what if it’s just one little lie?
Think of it this way: if you have two drinks before you, Coca-Cola and Strawberry Milkshake, and you decide to drink of the Coca Cola only, what after-taste do you have? Cola, right? And if you drink only of the milkshake? Strawberry, right? So what happens if you drink a sip of each drink (in any order)? You have a weird mixture of fizzy-strawberry-cola. It’s the same with sin and holiness. If you’ve tasted of only one or the other, you will experience only that specific after-taste. By drinking of both sin and holiness, you still have traces of both, but neither are truly what they were originally. That is why it is written “all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
Where did it all start?
Before the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, before the Exodus and the Ten Commandments, before Abraham who had many sons and way before Noah built the Ark, there was uTata Adam and uMama Eve. They were soaking in the one-flavoured splendour of God’s presence and holiness. There was no “Thou shall not kill” because God never commanded it to them. The only thing (in the universe of things Adam and Eve were able to do) that God commanded them not to do, was “not [to] eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when [they ate] from it [they would] certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17) They had ONE job. ONE. That one little thing that God put a restriction on is the one way that Satan used in order to get uTata and uMama to drink the other drink. Then they drank… and now, because that taste of “Cola and Strawberry” is transferrable through blood, we all are hosts to sin.
Many, many years later
There is hope! The Holy Spirit, who is God himself, works in those whom he has called to himself and bears fruit in them “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22). Jesus died for our sins, so that all our sins can be washed away, and so that we can get back to an awesome, glorious relationship with Him. Together with that, God, in His sovereignty, predestined creation before time began (Ephesians 1:4) and he knows the plans he has for us, to prosper and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). He is the way in which we can drink of the right cup again. There is no need to live without hope, because Christ has become our one cup, our hope and salvation.
