Oct 15, 2017
Numerous times throughout the day, I find myself clicking ‘home.’ ‘Home’ on a Web site, or Facebook, or my company Intranet. I do this mindlessly. I did it again just now. This time when I clicked ‘home’ on Facebook, the thought hit me, how great it would be if I could click “home” and go immediately to my Heavenly home.
‘Home’ on Facebook or Web sites represents the starting point. When I find myself longing to go home to Heaven, I’m longing to go back to the starting point. How did I get so far away from this home?
The starting point is the point where God created us in His image. The point before sin changed the game and set all of humanity on a course of confusion, despair, anxiety, pain, selfishness, pride in our own wisdom, trust in our own feelings and a distrust of God.
The starting point is the perfect home God created for us in the Garden of Eden. In this garden, the devil tempted Eve and then Adam to eat some fruit God had placed off limits as a simple test of trust. He did this so He could experience the joy of a loving relationship with us. God provided every good thing for Eve and Adam to have an abundant, wonderful, satisfying life. He warned Eve and Adam not to eat of the fruit from one tree, for it would lead to death. This comes first in the form of a distrust of God and trust in our own wisdom, relying on self, and this approach to life rooted in selfishness and trust in our own wisdom instead of trusting God ultimately leads to death. So Satan, the devil, came disguised as a brilliant serpent and told Eve she would not die, that she would be like God if she ate the fruit. He introduced doubt in her mind, so she thought maybe God was withholding something good, maybe He wasn’t such a loving God, maybe God couldn’t be trusted.
Eve looked at the fruit, and it looked desirable. She was attracted to the fruit but perhaps even more to the idea that she could rely on her own wisdom, use her own feelings to guide her life. Why should she have limits? So she trusted her feelings and the lie of the devil instead of trusting God’s word. She ate the fruit despite God’s warning.
Eve’s decision was the game changer that leaves me now here on Planet Earth, far away from my Garden of Eden home.
When Eve distrusted God and made a decision to trust her own wisdom instead, this step changed the game. It brought distrust of God and a focus on self to all of humanity like a genetic deformity being passed down from generation to generation, affecting all of us.
So here I am in this world of sin. I look around and see the results of distrusting God, and I see that it is not desirable. I find myself far away from home, longing to get back to the starting point.
God’s original creation was centered on a love of others, no selfishness. When Even and Adam at the fruit, it wasn’t merely a choice to eat some fruit, it was a choice to trust their own feelings and wisdom over God. This distrust of God brought selfishness to humanity, the root cause of the messed up world I find myself in today.
I do have hope because Jesus came and changed the game again. He died for me. He took the penalty of death on Himself. He did this for you too, to save us from the sin humanity is infected with because of Eve’s and Adam’s decision. Since distrust in God inevitably leads to death, He gave me a way to overcome this distrust. He died to pay the penalty for my distrust. And by doing this, He restores my trust in Him.
I am not left without a choice. And neither are you. Are we going to accept this game-changing thing Jesus did? He came to undo the works of the devil, who is still running around inciting distrust in God. Because of this game changer from Jesus, we have a choice.
We are now faced with the same decision Eve and Adam faced. Are we going to trust God’s word, or trust our own feelings and wisdom?
The next time you click ‘home,’ perhaps pause for a moment and think about this. You chose to click that home button and take yourself to the starting point of a Web site. Where do you want your life actions to take you? Do you want to go Home, to Heaven, the starting point?
Jesus can transform us back to His image, back to His starting point. He wants to heal us now and fill the deepest longing in our hearts. He said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20, NIV). If we let Him, He will remake us. We have to choose this and allow Jesus to work in our hearts. He calls this being born again because we let go of our former life and live a new life allowing Him to work in our hearts and remake us. Here is a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus: “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8, NKJV)
Praise the Lord for not leaving us the way were born into this world. He offers to remake us and take us home, back to the starting point. This is the place I long to be.
Get in the Ark 