RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

“So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being; the “Last Adam,”, a life-giving spirit.’” (1 Corinthians 15:45)
It was the most horrible situation I’ve ever seen. I’d never dreamed that men could do to others such terrible things. I had walked into a nation that was a house of horrors. A few months earlier, one tribal group in the African nation of Rwanda had tried to exterminate a rival group. If a wife was from the Hutu tribe and her husband was Tutsi, she would turn him into the militia to be killed — and vice versa. In just one month, nearly one million people had been killed .
The mayor of one city told me his story. “My wife and I had seven children,” he said. “When the order was given to kill all the Tutsis, a neighbor who was a close friend came to me and said, ‘You’ll never be able to hide in one place. Let me take four of the children and hide them. You and your wife and other three children can hide in a different place.’ I agreed. But once he had the children, he called the militia. And they slaughtered them.”
It was incomprehensible. I found myself asking, “How could such a thing happen at this time in history?”
The answer goes back to the fall of man. The Bible says that because of one man’s sin, we all have a nature that’s prone toward evil. Adam, the first man, made a devastating choice. He disobeyed God. For every generation since, that has produced incalculable tragedies. Before that choice was made, there was perfect peace and harmony between man and the world around him. Ever since, greed, murder, immorality, and a host of other dark deeds have filled people’s lives.
In short, the first Adam blew it. He sinned and passed his “sin nature” to future generations. That sin nature has been written in the DNA of all his descendants, including you and me. It left us hopeless and helpless. It carries the potential for the kind of tragedy that ravaged in Rwanda in 1994.
But there’s good news. The Bible speaks not only of the first Adam, but it also opens our eyes to the victory we have in the “Last Adam.” The apostle Paul refers to Jesus as the “Last Adam.” The first Adam lost our relationship with God, but the “Last Adam” regained it for us. The first Adam left us with a degenerate nature, but the “Last Adam” brings regeneration to our hearts and lives. The Bible says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:28 kjv).
The name Last Adam brings our hearts great encouragement and hope. Jesus was, is. and always will be God. But “Last Adam” is the most clearly stated name of Jesus that assures us of Christ’s humanity. The uniqueness of Jesus lies in the fact that He was God who became man. There has never been a man like him, nor will there ever be. He’s God-man. He’s the creator of the universe — and the “Last Adam.”
Jesus came to this earth and identified with us as a man. Yet He was without sin. When He comes to dwell in our hearts through faith, His life-giving Spirit quickens us and gives us a new heart and a new nature. Dwelling within us, we have the power to live victoriously. We don’t have to live in the bondage of sin. We are more than conquerors. We have only to appropriate by faith the power of His Spirit working within us. Trust Him today. He’s your source of victory.