Week 3
Read: Genesis 3:14-15
The creation story—complete with the fall—gets to a point of resolution. But it is not what God had in mind originally for the world or anything/anyone in the world.
Stott does a good job in showing how grace operates in a particular way and in a common way (what my tradition calls “prevenient grace”).
But there is something “sad” when all is said and done. Redemption does not make everything OK. Things get back on track, but not precisely as they began. This is a reminder that we can experience God’s grace and still not “put all the pieces” back exactly like they were.
Grace cannot always “fix” things. Sometimes it can only keep things from getting worse.
Oboedire 
I recently attended an event in which Dallas Willard was speaking on the topic of hope and grace. He said something I beleive ties in with part of this thought. He said, “forgiveness means restoring relationships, but it doesn’t mean erasing the past”. I think, through forgiveness, we can put our relationships back on track. That doesn’t mean we can stuff our past in the trash can and forget about it (or expect those whom we have wronged to stuff it away either). Those things will always be experiences that we can learn from and advance our spiritual formation.