6-17-2026
Have you ever thought about looking at The Fall of mankind from a different perspective. One pastor decided to help his church see it a little bit differently. He stepped up to the pulpit and read from Genesis Chapter 1, then expounded on creation and the unmistakable love for the Created that went into it. As he did so, a painter slipped onto a stool next to him where a large easel had been placed, and began painting a lovely, spacious meadow scene in oils.
The artist was unusually skilled, so we could barely concentrate on what our pastor was saying as trees, lake, midday sun, tall grass, and blue/red sky sprang up in front of us.
Then, just as the painter put his finishing touches on the canvas, our pastor pulled a pan of black paint out from under the pulpit, dipped both hands into it, then turned to the easel and smeared them all over the freshly created scene.
The congregation’s reaction was nothing short of shock! Some even expressed what they were feeling as they watched their pastor smear black paint on the beauty that had been created. The beauty wasn’t totally gone, but many parts of it were completely blotted out, most of it was marred, and none of it could ever be the same. The ruin was complete.
Never had the concept of The Fall been so well expressed. Through Adam’s disobedience and Eve’s deception, there went the human family, still beautiful but defaced; still existing but marred, never in this life to be all it was meant to be.
You and I have, most often, considered The Fall from Adam and Eve’s perspective, looking at what it cost them……what it cost you and me. But have you ever considered what it cost God? Here he’d just created beauty, only to have it permanently desecrated by one act of disobedience. God had perfect intentions for humanity, only to have His handiwork brutally smeared.
It’s a wonder that God didn’t just wipe everything out and start again. He could have, you know. But He didn’t. Instead, He chose to demonstrate His immense love for His creation – for you and for me – by extending love and grace and forgiveness.
May we maintain this perspective on God’s love for us. Humanity ruined so much through sin, yet God loves us even more through His grace.