The Mess
If I were to ask you what you thought of our world we live in, I think we would all agree that though it is a beautiful and wonderful place, it is broken. We are surrounded by death and decay everywhere we go. There is a disconnect in our relationships with each other, with nature, and with God. The evidence for this isn’t hard to find. Our news is full of stories of how we are destroying our planet, how we treat human life at best as a stepping stone for our own goals, and how we are in an endless search for meaning.
The Yearning
When we look at all of this chaos and unraveling it may seem hopeless. But the fact that we long for this mess to be made better is a proof that deep inside of us, we know this is not how it is supposed to be.
In the beginning God created a perfect world, one that he called “good.” In this world, there was perfect unity in all relationships. God, people, and nature existed in perfect harmony. Each bringing blessing and joy to the other. The first man and woman existed to help each other, humanity was set in charge of creation to oversee it and tend it, and God walked in the cool of the day to commune with his image bearers.
The Problem
Not long after the creation of the world, however, this unity came to a halt. People tempted by the desire to be more than just the recipients of God’s love, chose their own path, and walked away from the relationship they were made for. When that happened sin entered the world, and with it death, isolation, and chaos. Sin also created a barrier that prevented this world from ever going back to that original innocence and harmony. People began to desire control over one another, nature no longer worked in each others benefit, and the beautiful relationship God had with his people was severed.
The escape
From that point on, the story of humanity is one where we try in millions of ways to escape the gravity of sin’s corruption. With religion and good works we attempt to go back to the perfection found in the beginning, but sin’s barrier prevents us. It is not about doing good or saying we are sorry, the devastation is too deep. At the same time we try to numb ourselves from the reality of our situation with an endless list of distractions and addictions, relationships and self pity. Still, the temporary escape ends with us crashing back into the mess we are trying to leave, often in a worse state than before.
The fix
It’s into this vain striving that something beautiful has occurred. In the beginning God had made the world, and he loved it. That didn’t change when it fell. Actually, as soon as Adam and Eve had sinned, God did two very amazing things. First, he cursed Satan, who had been the one who tempted God’s precious children. Secondly, he promised that though Adam and Eve had to live with the effects of their sins, he would give them an heir that would defeat Satan (i.e. The effects of sin).
The rest of the Bible is dedicated to that heir, to that descendent, who would come to defeat Satan. The promise was fulfilled when Jesus was born.
Jesus is the only Son of God. Though he was born, he was not created. He is 100% God and 100% man. This identity makes him, and only him the one who can fix the problem of sin and death. Jesus came to earth to live a life like ours and then to be the ultimate sacrifice. On the cross, Jesus took all of our sins and failures, all of our death and decay and wrapped it up in his perfect life. The One who never sinned, became sin.
The effects of love
In this sacrifice Jesus showed us the depth of his love, but the cross wasn’t the end of the work he had planned. Three days after Jesus was placed in the grave, because he was 100% God and 100% man Jesus rose from the tomb. He had taken our sins, he had faced death, and he had defeated them both as the ultimate victor. In this moment the barrier between us and God that sin had created was now possible to get through. It had been impossible when fallen people had tried to do it, because all of us are fallen, but when Jesus who never sinned took that on himself, then that sacrifice took the power of sin and its gravity away from us.
I am the way
The death of Jesus had now created a new path to the God who created us and loves us. What couldn’t be done in religion or works was done in the sacrifice of Jesus for his people. He loved us so much that he died on a cross so that we could once again be in a right relationship with him. What religion and good works could do Jesus’ love did, and all it requires is acceptance. To take this gift we must believe that Jesus is who he says he is (the Lord of all creation) and surrender to his authority over our lives making him our king. When we do this he is faithful and good to forgive us our sins and give us back what sin had taken.
The image bearers
At the moment we believe and surrender Jesus comes into our lives and makes us new. We can grow again like we were created to do. We begin to heal from the death that had slowly taken away God’s mark from our lives. We may not be perfect, but we are new, and given the promise that in the end we will be perfect, living with God forever in a perfected world.
Not finished yet
From brokenness to redemption to salvation the whole story of God’s plan for his world is one of love and grace. Still, there is one more part that is needed to tell the full story and its what God does with his people after they are made new. Instead of taking them out of the world immediately and giving them the abundance of heaven right then, God has asks his people to continue to do his work. We are called to go into the broken and lost world and tell everyone who he is, and what he has done to save those that he loves.
What you to do now
The next step in all of this is up to you. Jesus offers you the chance to accept this gift of life and love, and to break free from the death and isolation that plagues the world. He loves you so much that he gave up everything for you to be brought back to the God who from the beginning wanted a relationship with you. If you would like this life all you have to do is confess that Jesus is Lord, and ask him to enter into your heart and begin his work. No magic, no crazy long prayer, just a simple plea to an infinite God.