"Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned -- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" - Romans 5:9-15

We live in the computer age. Many of us cannot live without our computer. However, in this computer age we are plagued by something called a virus.
A virus can be deadly to computers. It comes as a simple welcoming message, usually in an e-mail. As soon as the receiver clicks on to that message to open it, the virus contained therein moves with lightening speed to millions of computers around the world, creating a deadly affect.
At the genesis of creation, God warned our foreparents about Satan's virus. However, they ignored God's warning and clicked onto Stan's simple message. Immediately the deadly virus of sin was born.
Since the fall, all humans are affected by the sin virus, which brings death to us all. This virus is a part of our DNA. We inherit it at birth. We cannot escape it.
Even though sin does affect us all, we have a way out of our dilemma. The God of love, our heavenly Father, did not abandon us and leave us to fend for ourselves.
He could have turned His back on us humans when we rebelled against Him. But He did not.
Instead, He came to rescue us from ourselves and the devil.
Out of pure love for His creation He made a way for us to be reconciled to Himself. Through His son, the Christ, we can all find a way back to God. In baptism, we are baptized into Christ's death and resurrection and are sealed with God's spiritual indelible mark.
God, in the person of His son Jesus the Christ, came into the world and lived among us. During His time on earth, He taught us how to love God and to live with our fellow men.
The apostle Paul gives us reassurance in Romans 5:7-8, "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Who would die for an enemy? No one! Yet God did for us.
He demonstrated His love for us, sinners, His enemies, by sending His son to take our sin upon Himself and bear the burden of our punishment. God vent His wrath upon Jesus, our Lord and Savior, on Calvary's cross so that we would be spared His wrath.
Satan continues to come after us with his deadly virus in a simple message. We do not have to click on it. Instead, let us cling to Christ our Savior. He is our way out of the maize of deadly sin. He is our way back to God. The apostle John tells us in John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them." Amen.

o Reverend Samuel Boodle, pastor of the Lutheran Church of Nassau, 119 John F. Kennedy Dr., P. O. Box N4794, New Providence, Bahamas, or telephone 426-9084.

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