An Open Door Into Grace-Living

A once dark house now warmly lit, a quiet picture of moving from Adam’s failing power to the steady life of Jesus within.

Devotional Source: Living in the Garden of Grace, David Kuykendall, pp 10-11

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Romans 5:12-14 shows us that through one man, Adam, sin entered the world and death came through sin. Death then spread to all people because all sinned in Adam. Even before the law was given through Moses, death still reigned. Adam’s transgression is presented as a picture, a type, of the One who was to come, Jesus, the Head of a new race.

The passage before us today invites us to slow down and look with fresh eyes at something many of us have known about for years, the story of Adam and the gift of Jesus. Paul does not offer these verses as distant doctrine that sits far away from our daily lives. He writes so that tired, ordinary believers can discover what it means to live under grace right in the middle of ordinary days, with their conversations, decisions, and pressures.

Paul begins with Adam so that we see ourselves clearly. Every one of us entered this world in Adam’s line. He chose to live independently from God, drawing from himself as his source, and that independence spread to the entire human race. We inherited that self-sourced way of living without ever signing up for it. That is why sin and death spread to all. Adam stepped out of the life of God, and we stepped out with him.

But the Spirit does not leave us staring at the first Adam. Through Paul’s words, He lifts our eyes to the last Adam, Jesus. What the first man did in pulling the race into sin and death, the last Adam has answered with righteousness and life for all who belong to Him. The key thought is simple but life-altering. Whatever was true of Adam became ours because we were born into his race. Whatever is true of Jesus becomes ours because we have been placed into Him.

Paul says we were baptized into Jesus. That is more than a ceremony. It is a spiritual placement. We were united with His death, His burial, and His resurrection. Our old life in Adam was taken to the cross. Our old history was laid in the grave. A new life in the risen Jesus is now our true reality. Grace-living starts here. We are not trying to polish or repair our Adam-life. We are learning to walk in the new life that is already ours in Jesus.

This is where grace becomes wonderfully practical. To live under grace is not to try harder to look spiritual. It is to trust the One who is now our life. It is allowing Jesus to express His patience, kindness, and steadiness through us where we once strained, faked, or shut down. Grace does not make us passive. Grace makes us dependent. It gently invites us to yield to the indwelling Christ, who truly lives in us and knows how to live this very day through us.

Journal Entry - Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture

I draw near to remind you of who you are in Me. Once, your story was tied to the first Adam. You shared in a life shaped by independence from the Father, by patterns that turned inward for strength and direction. Those patterns carried the taste of death, the heavy sense that everything rested on your own shoulders. But now you are joined to Jesus, the last Adam. I have placed you into Him, and His story has become your own.

You were united with His crucifixion, and the old patterns lost their authority to rule you. You were united with His burial, and your old life in Adam was set aside as finished. You were united with His resurrection, and a new life became your true identity, a life sourced in Me. You are not trying to become a new creation. You are a new creation, and I am gently training your mind, your choices, and your desires to line up with what is already true in your spirit.

You may still notice echoes of Adam’s ways in your thoughts or emotions. Do not lose heart when they surface. They are habits, not masters. Sin once reigned over you, but now grace reigns in the risen life of Jesus within you. When those old echoes rise, turn to Me. Lean into My presence. Yield to Me in that very moment, and trust Me to express His peace, His humility, His love through you. I am not far away. I am within you, your constant life, a quiet, steady river of grace in your spirit.

Walk in this grace. Let your heart rest in the fact that you have a new Head and a new source. You are no longer confined to what you were in Adam. You share in the life of the One who died and rose again. I am your life, and I carry you forward in the Father’s joy. As you set your mind on things above, where your life is hidden with Jesus, you will begin to notice that your reactions, your words, and your choices bear the imprint of the One who lives in you.

Real-Life Analogy

Picture a home that once drew all its power from an old, failing generator in the basement. The generator sputtered, flickered, and could never keep all the lights on. The owner finally connects the house to a stable power grid. The old generator is shut down, and a new source now supplies all the power needed. The wiring in the house stays the same at first. Some lights may still flicker until everything settles, but the source has truly changed.

Our life in Adam is like living on that failing generator. Everything depended on our own effort, our own wisdom, our own ways of coping. In Jesus, the Spirit has connected us to a new source. The old generator has been shut down at the cross. We are now joined to the living Lord as our power, our wisdom, our steady supply. When we notice old flickers of fear, anger, or self-sufficiency, we do not need to fix ourselves. Instead, we remember the new source and respond with trust.

For example, imagine you are facing a decision that stirs old anxieties about getting everything right. Instead of tightening up and trying to control every detail, you might quietly say, Lord, You are my life and my wisdom, and I rely on You to think and act through me in this decision. As you entrust the situation to Him, the Spirit of Jesus expresses a calmer, clearer response through you. You are not powering your life from the old generator anymore. You are learning to draw moment by moment from the true Source within.

Prayer of Confidence

Father, thank You that I am no longer bound to Adam’s story. Thank You that in Jesus I have a new Head, a new life, and a new source. I rest in the truth that my old life in Adam was taken to the cross, buried, and left behind. I rejoice that I now share in the risen life of Your Son, and that Your Spirit lives in me as my constant supply. Today, I walk forward not in my own effort, but in quiet dependence on the life of Jesus in me. Thank You that everything I need for this day is already mine in Him.

Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section

Romans 5:12-14, 1 Corinthians 15:45, Romans 6:3-5, Romans 6:6-11, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:1-4, Titus 3:4-7, Ephesians 2:4-7