If you thought God was finished with you think again. It takes a lifetime to realize the work that went into you. God says, Ephesians 1:4-5 Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. That is a lot to live up to. So pardon the dust as the formation of "YOU" may take awhile. God does not expect us to be perfect, but he does expect us to strive for perfection.
Many of us grew believing that our God is sovereign and that sin is final, fatal and the end of the line without repentance. We believed that to sin at all is the same as to sin against God. Our parents scared us into believing that hell was hot and heaven was for the righteous. We went to bed at night hoping beyond hope that Jesus would forgive us for our horrible sins of the day which might have included, cutting our bangs without permission, sneaking food out of the refrigerator at night, lying about finishing our homework or day dreaming in church during the sermon.
When we became older our sins graduated with us. Now we were praying about sex out of wedlock, telling little white lies in the work place, and/or pretending we are something we are not just to make friends or keep friends. Just to fit in or to fit out.
Older yet we transgressed into the capital of all sins during our middle life stage. Here is where we began to sin unapologetically. We sin to survive, to maintain our dignity, our position, our livelihood. We began to sin because everybody else sins, because sinning has worked in the past and the past is the best predictor of future outcomes. We masked our sins under the veil of SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, eat or be eaten, strike first or suffer later.
We sin in the name of progress, protection of "things, people, ideas". We sin because we can. We sin in front of our children shaping their perception of sin.
And then, when we enter that final stage of life something quite interesting happens. We begin to reflect on the totality of our lives. The good columns and the not so good columns. We begin to dream about the days we want over. The conversations we would have differently. We begin to assess the value of the deposits we have made against the expectations God has set for our lives. And then alone with our thoughts, we finally get to answer the real question of life. Did I strive to be like HIM?
And depending on the answer to this question, the construction begins anew. And we know without being told, what we build and leave behind will only be as good as the foundation we have already begun.
As Robert Frost would say to college students: “It doesn’t matter what course you take. Simply hang around until you catch the Spirit, or the Spirit catches you.”
Many of us grew believing that our God is sovereign and that sin is final, fatal and the end of the line without repentance. We believed that to sin at all is the same as to sin against God. Our parents scared us into believing that hell was hot and heaven was for the righteous. We went to bed at night hoping beyond hope that Jesus would forgive us for our horrible sins of the day which might have included, cutting our bangs without permission, sneaking food out of the refrigerator at night, lying about finishing our homework or day dreaming in church during the sermon.
When we became older our sins graduated with us. Now we were praying about sex out of wedlock, telling little white lies in the work place, and/or pretending we are something we are not just to make friends or keep friends. Just to fit in or to fit out.
Older yet we transgressed into the capital of all sins during our middle life stage. Here is where we began to sin unapologetically. We sin to survive, to maintain our dignity, our position, our livelihood. We began to sin because everybody else sins, because sinning has worked in the past and the past is the best predictor of future outcomes. We masked our sins under the veil of SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, eat or be eaten, strike first or suffer later.
We sin in the name of progress, protection of "things, people, ideas". We sin because we can. We sin in front of our children shaping their perception of sin.
And then, when we enter that final stage of life something quite interesting happens. We begin to reflect on the totality of our lives. The good columns and the not so good columns. We begin to dream about the days we want over. The conversations we would have differently. We begin to assess the value of the deposits we have made against the expectations God has set for our lives. And then alone with our thoughts, we finally get to answer the real question of life. Did I strive to be like HIM?
And depending on the answer to this question, the construction begins anew. And we know without being told, what we build and leave behind will only be as good as the foundation we have already begun.
As Robert Frost would say to college students: “It doesn’t matter what course you take. Simply hang around until you catch the Spirit, or the Spirit catches you.”
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