GOD'S STORY

THIS IS GOD'S STORY

It all begins in the book of Genesis. The essence of the story is simple and pure. God created man and woman, Adam and Eve, in his own image. He created them perfect and placed them in a perfect garden, which was on a perfect earth that was part of a perfect universe. God is quoted in genesis saying that everything He created was good - EVERYTHING!

Part of God‘s wisdom in his creation of Adam and Eve was to provide them with a free will. He did not create puppets, but rather two people were free to choose to love and obey him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, or to live Life in a matter that was self-serving and independent of what God had planned for them. You may already know what happened. Adam and Eve were deceived into believing that they could disobey God and get away with it, that they would become just like God if they did, and that God didn’t really mean what he said, anyway about eating that fruit. Big mistake! The consequence was the Fall of Man – an eternal separation from God and banishment from the perfect garden of Eden that He created just for them the consequence is actually quite logical. God is holy and perfect, and only makes perfect things. Then once something becomes imperfect, he can no longer associate with it.

Adam and Eve then spiraled out of control. They faced hardships, disappointments, and pain they never knew existed. They experienced anger and fear, and there was no one to turn to but themselves. It didn’t take long at all for the first murder to occur. Their first two sons fought and eventually one killed the other out of jealousy. What was once a perfect existence was now imperfect and impure, and it was not due to any fault of God.

Thousands of years went by, and the matters of man deteriorated by the decade. And evil abounded. Everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes. So God, being the loving, merciful father that he is, put into affect a rescue plan to save his children from destroying themselves completely down here on earth.

As the story continues, the Bible takes us on an incredible journey of restoration. Yes, restoration. God‘s love for his world was so great that he was unwilling to let the situation continue as it was. Though everything was going to ruin, even to the extent that God was sorry he had even created man, he was still willing to pay the price of restoration. The price of restoration demanded his personal, human involvement in the situation. God did not delegate this. He couldn’t and didn’t want to. What a testimony of his love! The beloved (mankind) shunned the one who loved (God), yet he was willing to pay the price to restore the relationship. This is the greatest story ever told. God loved us so much that he came to earth in human form to rescue us and redeem us from a destiny of destruction at our hands.

Easter celebrates God‘s redemptive active restoration. Easter celebrates Jesus, who is God in the flesh, who came to earth to accomplish this very mission – to restore us to God. Jesus came to pay the price for every transgression past, present, and future, that we have ever committed and will ever commit. He did this by going to the cross and dying in our place. His death paid our penalty, a sacrifice once and for all for every ungodly act of the human race. Our impurity was washed away with the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made. The story of the cross, the tomb, and Christ’s resurrection on the third day says it all: God loves you, God loves you, God loves you.

It has always been God‘s plan for you to belong to Him. He created you to love you, to walk through life with you, and give you a future and a hope. Do you want to take a moment and let God record your encounter with Him right now in the chronicles of eternity?

The Bible speaks of a book called the Lamb’s Book of Life. Those who have had a life-changing encounter with God are recorded in this book which will be used to determine who enters heaven and who does not: “Nothing will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 21:27 (NIV)

If you’re ready to have your God story written, then all you need to do is to acknowledge the living God, who is waiting to write His story on your heart. If you’re wondering how to do that it is as simple as talking to a friend. The Bible calls it prayer. Don’t let the word prayer intimidate you. Prayer is not that in consequential, sterile effort that you might remember from your religious upbringing. It is a form of communication in which you just tell God what’s on your heart. As you let him know that you realize how much he loves you and how you have been living your life without him to no good end then God will make His presence known to you and restore your relationship with Him. He will take you out of the darkness in which you are walking in and bring you into the light of His goodness and kindness. He will gather up your life full of broken pieces and replace it with His life – life without end, a life, everlasting. Then you, too, will have a God story to tell, “written not with ink but by the spirit of the living God, not tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”  2 Corinthians 3:3 (NKJV)