Our Reality
Back in the day, my daily struggle with sin used to make me wonder; would it have been better if we never existed at all, and thereby never lived with the ramification of sin, or would it have been easier if Adam and Eve had not sinned and continued living peacefully with God? Our God is the all-knowing God. Having created us, He knew that we would fail Him repeatedly and continually. He also knew that He would have to sacrifice His own Son to save us. God knew all of this and had the power to change the course of human history by not bringing us into existence at all, thus saving Himself from this seemingly endless heartache. Yet He chose to create us anyway. He could have completely wiped out Adam and Eve after they disobeyed, but instead, He chose to clothe them to hide their shame, He also provided a way to restore the distorted harmony caused by their rebellion. The Bible says that He chose us before the foundation of the world. From all the possibilities that God could have chosen, why would He choose this one? I imagine a life never seeing or experiencing the beauty that God created: Never getting a chance to gaze at the twinkling stars, at the rising and setting sun, or bask under the brilliant moonlight. Where I never saw the unique and vast array of flowers or the many colors of a rainbow. Never experiencing a mighty ocean, the soothing effect of a cool breeze on my skin. the touch of a loving embrace or a gentle kiss, Where I never felt the manifold of emotions that simple music can evoke. I could continue without an end describing all the myriad of wonderful things that God created which reflect who He is, and how bleak I imagine life would be without them, but more importantly, I imagine having never even existed or worse, the emptiness of existing but never knowing God and thinking my existence was by chance and that my life and the work of my hands were meaningless and purposeless. What a bleak and tragic reality that would be! Yes, we wage war with sin until our dying breath and yes, we have failed God, but God turned all that mourning into joy by giving us His presence and sharing with us His glory. Jesus tells us in Luke 7:47 that whoever has been forgiven much, loves much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. It doesn’t mean that a murderer’s love for God is much greater than a thief’s love for God. When God’s forgiveness truly touches us, love and adoration sprout out of our hearts, glorifying Him who alone is worthy of all our praise. Jesus also said in John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”. I see God’s love for me in His death on the cross by taking upon Himself the payment for my sin, and thus forgiving me. I know God loves me when I consider the utter depth of my sin. Rather than destroying me, instead, God chose to forgive me. I believe that there is more joy in being a sinner who has lovingly and sacrificially been forgiven by God, than never knowing sin, and consequently, never knowing the depth of His love expressed in forgiveness. Of course, we hope to love God for all the right reasons but the depth of reverence and love for God is much greater when we understand He has freely forgiven all our sins when we do not even deserve it. A new believer is brought down on their knees not because they see the immensity of God’s love in their mere existence and the things that God has provided for them, but because they finally repent and receive God’s forgiveness of their sin through His death on the cross. He chose to love us and He chose the pain, the shame, and the suffering of the cross to bring us home to Him. We live with the pain of knowing we have rebelled against our good Maker, but we also enjoy the truth that God revealed Himself to us. He is not only the Creator God that we should worship, but He is also our Father God that we, His children, love to worship. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness and we can say: “When I am weak, then I am strong”, for we are all weaklings on our own but with God, we are capable of unimaginable things. We are living in the only possible reality God wanted for us, and if given a choice, I wouldn’t want it to be any different even though it comes at the cost of living with the pain of my constant struggle with sin and failing God. Thankfully, this also comes with a blessed assurance of a new heaven and a new earth where God will dwell with man and where our lowly bodies will be transformed into His glorious body. God’s creation is perfect, His redemptive plan to restore and reconcile us to Himself is perfect and His eternal Kingdom that will come very soon will be perfect. There is nothing that we can add to His plan, nor can we take anything out of it, to make it any better. I may never fully understand why God chose to create human beings, knowing that we would always fall short of our intended existence, but I am eternally grateful to Him for giving me this life and enriching it with the peace and joy that comes with His presence.
