For we are God’s handiwork …
Summary: On reflection, my personal journey in this life has not been so different than the history of all that has happened before. There are patterns to human existence, and truths that cannot be changed. One of those truths is that we are created. Another is that our Creator is a loving God.
As a reluctant believer, I have been slow to come to the party. When I was a child, my family attended church, but it was a church of form rather than function. They went through the motions of being a believer on Sundays, but it didn’t seem to have much of an impact the rest of the week.
As I grew older, it seemed that religion got more complicated. The people that believed the Bible was God’s Word seemed angry. If I questioned what they were saying, they reacted as if threatened. The “mainstream” churches didn’t like questions either, although they tended to be nicer about it. Then there were all the other voices and options. In those years, people experimented with drugs, sex, and music. People explored Eastern religions, and New Age thinking abounded.
Yet, for all the confusion, there was still a kernel of truth deep in my thinking. We are God’s handiwork. Someone had to have made us. There has to be a God!
During my lifetime, I have wandered lost for most of my years. Looking back, I can see where God was watching over me. Time and time again, I narrowly missed falling into a situation that might have ended my life. Time and again, something odd happened to prevent it. Little miracles added up, and then one day, God finally sat me down and had a talk with me.
Since that day, I have been finding my way home. Learning to hear God’s voice has taken time. Learning to trust God has taken even more time. Fortunately, he is patient and loving. He cares because we are his handiwork.
My personal journey has not been all that different than the history of all mankind. Reading through the Bible, there is story after story of mankind dancing with death and then, at the last minute, being saved by its Creator. History since the time of the Apostles has continued this dance, and each generation has had to relearn the lessons of the past.
This Easter, as I write this, it seems like all the mistakes of the past and all our hope for a bright future have been poured into one generation and then shaken up and lit on fire. People squabble, fight, and argue, and some live in a state of continual anger. The rest of us stand back, shaking our heads, wondering if what we are seeing is real.
In that, we are not alone. The disciples of a man named Jesus thought he had died, brutally murdered, in the most excruciating way possible. And then he was alive again, and they couldn’t believe their eyes. They wondered if what they were seeing was real, and yet in their hearts, they knew it was. Jesus is alive!
More than that, more than just a man surviving death, Jesus’ return from the grave testified to the truth of everything he taught us before he died. Instead of coming back from the dead in wrath and anger, Jesus returned in love. This, too, testified to the truth of what he taught.
He is risen! And because he is, we can know that death is not the end for us, too.
Amen.
Application: Believe in Jesus!
Food for Thought: What was God thinking when he created creatures who could question their Creator?
The main reason I can think of (and this opinion is just that…one man’s opinion) is that God could not show us one of His greatest attributes without the free will and fall of man…His mercy. Jesus is risen!
Thanks JEC!
He is risen, indeed!! 🙂
He is risen indeed. And I like JEC’s response.
To go with his response, love is another characteristic that needs to be chosen. We cannot force someone to love us, they have to choose to do so. Love isn’t love without free will. God loves us and invites us into a loving relationship, but we get to choose.
Thanks, Rich!
What a great point! The definition of a loving God is one who, like the prodigal’s father, allows us to go our own way, and then is willing to accept us back!
Thank you for sharing your life with us today Jeff!
What was God thinking when he created creatures who could question their Creator?
Gods desire is to be surrounded by individuals who are with Him by Choice. Those who do not want to serve God for all eternity, choose to be separated from God, get what they chose.
Thanks Ron!
You’re right, it’s all about choice!
God used Paul to write Ephesians, and goes into great detail regarding His foreknowledge, as He allows all to make the choice which in His foreknowledge, He already knows we will make. Ephesians 1:4-14.
The hearts of those filled with the Holy Spirit through Christ will be plainly seen by all as each is welcomed into eternal life in the presence of God.
Everything against God will be thrown into the eternal fire.
The key is, all will know they receive what they have chosen to receive.
What was God thinking when he created creatures who could question their Creator?
All great answers and benifits to our knowledge of our Lord, building up our relationship with Jesus. God knows why He did what He did. He is God and knows eternal things that we cannot understand yet. I do love how God gave us the freedom to question Him but some choose to question about Him and also thank and praise Him for all that He has done. God is a different kind of King, one that encourages the questions not the “do as I say without questions” but a gentle teacher that cares.
Tim,
I very much like your way of putting things:
“God is a different kind of king.”
’nuff said! 🙂