Why I'm sad the world didn't end a year ago

As you may have noticed the world did not end on 12/21/12, and a year later we are still here. Don't get me wrong, I had no expectation the world would end last year. The Mayans have joined the long list of people who have incorrectly guessed when the world would end.

But it still makes me kind of sad.  Allow me to explain.

Often we think of the apocalypse as some horrible event, this great disaster which we all live in dread of. It is very human to see Judgement Day as some terrible day to be feared.  It sounds like a day of punishment and every nightmarish depiction of Hell. But in truth the Day of Judgement is a day of justice.

For now the wrath of God is being held back and building, waiting for the day of release. Judgement Day will be the day when every hurt, every wrong, and every sin will be redeemed and washed away. There will be justice for every crime committed against another. God is not mute to the sufferings of the world. It is with this future hope of justice Paul writes Romans 12:19
"Never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

Judgement Day will be the day when sickness, cancer, sex slavery, oppression, exploitation, and every other horrible thing which plagues humanity will be defeated. It will be glorious! It will be a day of true justice. No more suffering.

And it's hard to wait sometimes. This world is a dark and broken place, there are a lot of terrible things happening to people who God deeply loves, and it seems like there is no end in sight. Humanity will never save itself.  But our great God of Justice will. And I yearn for that day.

Restore to Factory Default

You have probably noticed by now people can be pretty messed up sometimes.  Oppression and exploitation, empires, abuse and manipulation.  It's everywhere and it's not just "them"; we all have our moments of failure and selfishness.  Please don't think me misanthropic, I just don't believe humanity left to its own devices will ever save itself.  We were not designed for this; we were not meant to live and operate in sin.  In the Beginning God created us good, whole, and sinless.  

Ever since the Fall humanity has been glitchy; some of our files and systems have been corrupted.  Not only are we born broken into a broken world, but we pick up more bugs along the way (wounds, lies, wrong priorities, etc).  Our sin goes against our programming and slows us down from living as God intended.  In truth we become less and less ourselves as we accumulate more problems and stains of this world.  On our own we all will spiral down to the "blue screen of death."

This is where Jesus steps in.  He came to save us from ourselves and our glitches.  By God's grace Jesus comes into our lives and goes about helping us reboot our system and restore us to our perfect factory defaults of Eden.  Thankfully this does not wipe our memories or personality; instead we are freed up from the burden of harmful thoughts, patterns, and behaviors.  We are made new and renewed.  Praise God for accomplishing what only He can.  With this new freedom we are now able to walk in our true identities.  But this world is still a dirty place and we will continue to pick up glitches along the way.  Thankfully by the same grace of God we can be restored and renewed again and again and again.  I know I need this grace.

The Myth of Utopia and Why I Don't Live There (yet)

This world is a broken place, there is not much use in denying it.  I am broken.  And I am honestly more broken than I realize (or want to admit).

But what do we do in the face of such brokenness?  How do we respond?  What options do we have?

One option is the idea of utopia.  The world is broken?  We can fix that.  Look at all that humanity has overcome.  Society, technology, medicine.  We killed Smallpox!  We have built cities, written constitutions, formed elaborate systems of civilization.  Life expectancy, quality of life, so many mountains we have scaled.    This world is ours to steward, and we will subdue it (Gen 1:28-29), this is our Manifest Destiny.  What holds us back from achieving this dream?

Us

me

Because despite all our accomplishments, we cannot save us from ourselves.  The factor in any hypothetical situation which leads to the inevitable downfall of a utopia is always the human element.  The laws of Physics, Bio-chemistry, etc. can be mastered and manipulated, but in any scenario humanity always finds a way to be its undoing.  Left to my own devices I am as selfish as ever.

Yet we still try to be our own salvation.  Legalism thrives on the belief I can fix myself.  Religion encourages it.  The idols of human logic and Secular Humanism worship it too.  At times I find this idea alluring.  But utopia is a myth.  And I would not fit in.

But what shall we do in the face of such brokenness?  If we cannot fix ourselves what hope is there?  Many understandably give up.  What else can we do?  Sure we can try, but either we deceive ourselves or we will eventually grow too weary from trying.

And here we find the critical junction.  What do you do then? Everything hangs upon what we do next.  We can collapse into depression and eventual destruction.  Or we can call out to Him who can save us from us.

I have found that many of my most broken moments are my most peaceful moments.   Brokenness leads to dependency, which leads to intimacy, and intimacy brings "a peace which surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:7).  My hope for salvation and utopia is not in myself.  It is God alone who is redeeming and reconciling the world back to Himself.  And in His infinite goodness He lets us join the fun.  So we cannot save ourselves, but we can partner with Him who can (2 Cor 5:18-20).

Colors

Did you ever notice how many colors there are?  How many hues of green alone are in the world.  Tints and shades, glossy and matte.  It is rather amazing the infinite number of colors around us.

It is Autumn once again and the trees are a menagerie of colors.  Each solitary leaf will itself journey through a range of colors.  It is beautiful to behold.

And what I find fascinating about all this color around me is the pure beauty of it.  Because honestly the world does not necessitate such vibrancy.  It would be quite possible for the world to have been created with half the colors we know or for there to only be one shade of orange.  Some aspects of creation are necessary because of the nature of God and His character.  "Love" is "good" in creation because God is good, God is love, and love is good.  So why so many colors?

As with everything the answer comes from the character of God, but it is an expression of personality.  It is not utility that spurs this myriad of shades.  We have so many colors simply because God is extravagant.  He does not just make a color, a few colors, but He made a number of colors beyond human comprehension.  God is a God of beauty.  He values things for more than utilitarian function.  He is a God of the concrete and the abstract.  And He chooses to express Himself in awe inspiring ways.  God is extravagant.

Consider God's love for us, each of us personally.  God loves us so much, beyond our understanding.  His love is independent, rooted in Himself.  Now consider my love for God.  My love is rather weak and feeble, and even at my strongest is still entirely dependent upon God and His love.  He initiates I respond.  This imbalance is okay, it is how eternity works.  God loves me with some extravagant and awesome love; a love that He alone is worthy of.  I love God with a small love; a love that is imperfect like me yet God somehow in His extravagance chooses to be blessed by.  How awesome is that?  God loves me as He alone deserves, in response I weakly love God back, and God chooses my love and receives it as more than it is.  It's crazy.  I don't understand it.  But God is extravagant.

Whenever you see colors around you may it remind you of how incredible God is and how extravagant His love is for you.

"Where are you?"

Have you ever wondered what was the saddest moment in history?  What has been the darkest hour in creation?  I would submit that there are two equally and intrinsically linked saddest moments, and that they both revolve around the question "where are you?"

Scene 1:  The Garden.

God has finished His work of creation and everything is good.  We see humanity as the pinnacle of God's creativity.  Scripture describes Adam and Eve as being "naked" which I think may be one of the most beautiful descriptions in Scripture.  They were naked before God and naked before each other.  Perfect relationship.  Nothing hidden.  Fully present and fully known.  Adam and Eve had an intimacy with God that we will only know in Heaven.  Adam and Eve had a depth with each other that we can only catch glimpses of now.

Naked.

And then the Fall.  Their ate, their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  They knew they were naked so they hid themselves.  This beautiful and perfect state was broken and stained.

Then God comes walking in the garden.  He calls to them "where are you?" (Gen 3:8) not because they were hiding from an omnipresent and omniscient God.  God said this as an expression of the severed intimacy.  In one bite Adam and Eve went from perfect relationship with God to complete isolation.

Scene 2: Palestine

Emmanuel has come.  Jesus has been leading his band of misfit disciples around the countryside and now they have come to Jerusalem to start the revolution.  Everything seems perfect.  But then in a flash Jesus is arrested, tried, convicted, and executed.  Upon a hillside between two bandits Jesus hangs dying.  

As Jesus takes on the sins of humanity, my sins, Jesus who was one with the Father (Jn 17:11) suddenly becomes isolated from the Father.  Jesus who is God, and knows an intimacy with the Father that is beyond my comprehension, was cut off from God.  His perfect relationship was eclipsed by my sins.  In that moment of Hell Jesus cried out "where are you?" (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mk 15:34).

Jesus died alone to save me.  He also decided to stop being dead that I may know life.  Jesus went through the Hell of isolation that we may no longer be isolated.  We have hope.  We can go home.  Jesus has overcome.

'Twas Grace that Kicked Them Out of Eden

In the Beginning God made all of Creation and it was "Good!"

How awesome of a story introduction is that?

God creates Adam and Eve and places them in Eden, Paradise.

Everything is perfect on a level that I cannot fathom.

And God walks with Adam and Eve through Eden in the cool of the day.

Perhaps one the most beautiful words in all of scripture is "naked" (Gen 2:25), because it describes humanity's entire reality. They were naked and fully known before God, naked and fully known to each other. Nothing was hidden, there was perfect intimacy. The same intimacy that the human heart now aches for; the echoing memory of Eden.

And then the Fall.

Humanity has a choice and we choose poorly. Adam and Eve eat the fruit. Sin enters into Creation. That which was perfect and good is now marred with the terrible stain of sin.

Then the Curse.

And then God kicks Adam and Eve out of Eden.

For a long time I thought it was because God was angry, that part of the curse was no longer being able to enjoy the garden and all of its goodness, now Adam has to labor for his food. But the passage just before God kicks them out of the garden (Gen 3:22-24) offers a different explanation.

Because the passage describes the second tree named in the garden. The first tree is the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Adam and Eve have eaten from it. The second tree is the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve have not eaten from it. And this is God's reasoning for kicking them out of Eden. God says

"See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever"

God does not want Adam and Eve to live forever upon Earth. Upon this now fallen Earth. By denying them the fruit from the Tree of Life, by not preventing death, God is providing them a way out. Because now that they have sinned that would mean living forever in sin. Apart from God. There is a word for eternal separation from God

Hell

And by kicking Adam and Eve out of Eden God makes space for His Son, the Second Adam (Rom 5:14-15), to come provide a way to save Adam and Eve and all Humanity. Praise the Lord for His awesome grace, that He has not abandoned us here on Earth, but saved us from ourselves.

The Memory of Eden

We were created to be with God, to worship God; to love and be loved by God. We were perfectly connected to Him through whom we had life, love, peace, joy, fulfillment, contentment, all things. We were naked before God; we knew and were fully known.

Then came our fall from grace and this pure and perfect relationship with our Creator was destroyed. How could we who are sinful approach He who is Holy?

But the memory of Eden still echoes in my heart.

I long for you God. I yearn from the depths of my soul to be with God, to be in his presence, to hear his voice. The Lord speaks my name and like Lazarus I come out of the grave that has held me. Try as I may to numb or ignore my desires, we were made to be with God. The memory cannot be erased from my soul.

By grace I am reconciled to God. I am sanctified and am being sanctified.

Each day I seek to live as an exile returning to Eden . . .
to remember that I'm going home.