The story of God

Apparently, We Humans Have Been Complicated From the Beginning 😂

Today Jim Hall took us through The Story of God, and somewhere between Genesis, rebellious angels, Noah, Babel, sheep, goats and spiritual warfare, I realized something:

Human beings have been giving God headaches since approximately Genesis chapter 3.

God creates this beautiful world.

Trees. Rivers. Animals. Food growing everywhere. No rent. No electricity bill. No car transmission problems. No calories to count. 😂

Then He creates human beings in His image and gives them this incredible privilege of walking with Him.

There is basically ONE major restriction.

One.

And what do we do?

Naturally, we become extremely obsessed in the one thing God said not to touch.

Welcome to humanity. 😂

But something much bigger was happening.

The serpent in the garden represented a rebellion that had already begun in the spiritual realm. God had created spiritual beings as well as human beings, and His creatures were capable of choosing obedience or rebellion.

And here is something that stayed with me:

Choices matter.

Sometimes enormously.

Adam and Eve’s choice didn’t remain Adam and Eve’s problem. Sin entered the human story, and it spread.

By the next generation, Cain is killing Abel.

A few chapters later, things are so bad we have Noah and the Flood.

God rescues Noah, humanity gets another beginning and you would think:

Excellent. We have learned our lesson.

No.

😂

A few chapters later humanity gathers at Babel and says:

“Let us make a name for ourselves.”

There we go again.

God: Trust Me.

Humanity: We have another idea.

God: Follow Me.

Humanity: Interesting. But have You seen our tower?

And suddenly I began seeing the thread running through the entire Bible.

The fundamental human problem isn’t merely that occasionally we do naughty things.

We want to be our own lord.

That is why Samuel’s words to Saul are so powerful:

God doesn’t merely want sacrifice. He wants obedience.

We can sing.

Serve.

Give.

Go to church.

Carry the biggest Bible in the building.

Know exactly when to say “Amen!”

And still resist God in the one area where He is saying:

“Give this to Me.”

That one stepped on my toes a little. 😳

Then Jim moved into something Western Christianity sometimes doesn’t quite know what to do with:

the supernatural world.

We live in a culture that is very comfortable talking about what can be measured, photographed, weighed and put into an Excel spreadsheet.

It’s supernatural

But Christianity is a supernatural faith.

The Bible talks openly about angels, rebellious spiritual beings, Satan, spiritual powers and spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 6:12 says:

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”

Meaning sometimes that person irritating you may not actually be the biggest battle you’re fighting.

Please note: this does NOT mean every irritating person has a demon.

Some people are perfectly capable of irritating us all by themselves. 😂

But Scripture tells us there is an unseen dimension to the world we inhabit.

Jim said:

“We were born into a spiritual battlefield.”

That is why Peter says to be alert and sober-minded because our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

But here is what I loved.

The message wasn’t:

BE AFRAID! THERE ARE DEMONS EVERYWHERE!

No.

God doesn’t leave His children standing on the battlefield holding a teaspoon.

Ephesians 6 says we have armor.

Truth.

Righteousness.

Faith.

Salvation.

The Word of God.

Prayer.

And then 1 John 4:4 gives us the confidence from which we fight:

“Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

Now THAT will preach.

Then Jim said something that sent my brain wandering down another little theological road:

“Pride is an unrealistic evaluation of who you are.”

And immediately I wondered:

Then what about low self-esteem? What about losing your identity?

Because we normally think pride means:

“I am amazing. Look at me.”

But perhaps pride and broken identity can sometimes sit on opposite sides of the same problem.

Both can disagree with God.

Pride says:

“I am more than God says I am.”

Broken identity says:

“I am less than God says I am.”

Humility says:

“God, You tell me who I am.”

Whew.

That one I am taking home.

Humility isn’t walking around announcing:

“I am useless. I am nothing. I cannot do anything.”

That isn’t necessarily humility.

Humility is seeing yourself truthfully.

I am not God.

Thank goodness, because managing my own household is already enough work. 😂

But I am also not worthless.

I am created in His image.

Loved by Him.

Dependent upon Him.

Called by Him.

And accountable to Him.

And then we came back to Genesis.

Because right there in the wreckage of humanity’s first rebellion, God had already whispered the ending.

Genesis 3:15.

A descendant of the woman would come.

The serpent would strike His heel.

But He would crush the serpent’s head.

Imagine that.

Humanity has barely fallen and God is already talking about rescue.

The Bible then becomes this enormous story moving toward that promised One.

Generation after generation.

Kingdom after kingdom.

Rebellion after rebellion.

Until eventually the descendant arrives.

Jesus.

And suddenly the cure isn’t a philosophy.

It isn’t better politics.

It isn’t education.

It isn’t money.

It isn’t even religion.

The cure is a Person.

Jesus Christ.

Savior.

And Lord.

That second word matters.

Because sometimes we want Jesus as Savior:

Lord, please rescue me.

But Lord?

Wait… You mean You also want to tell me what to do? 😳😂

Yes.

Because salvation isn’t merely Jesus getting us out of trouble.

It is reconciliation with the God from whom humanity has been running since Eden.

And that begins with something our pride absolutely hates:

admission.

I am a sinner.

I need a Savior.

I cannot save myself.

There is a cure, but first I have to admit that I am sick.

Jim ended with Jesus’ words in Matthew 25.

One day Christ separates humanity like a shepherd separates sheep from goats.

And suddenly the story that began in Genesis becomes deeply personal.

There is judgment.

There is eternal punishment.

But there is also eternal life.

And there is a choice.

We can continue humanity’s ancient declaration:

“I will be my own lord.”

Or we can finally surrender and say:

“Jesus, You are Savior and Lord.”

Receive Him.

Follow Him.

Obey Him.

Be baptized.

Walk with Him.

Because here is what I carried away from church today:

The serpent entered the story early—but he does not get to write the ending.

Sin doesn’t get the ending.

Death doesn’t get the ending.

Rebellious powers don’t get the ending.

Our failures don’t even get the ending.

Jesus does.

And perhaps that is the most beautiful thing about The Story of God.

Since Eden, humanity has been wandering, rebelling, building towers, making terrible choices, getting ourselves into situations and then looking toward heaven like,

“Lord… so… about that thing I did…” 😂

And generation after generation, the story keeps moving toward the same answer:

Jesus.

The promised One.

The serpent crusher.

The Savior.

The Lord.

The King.

There is a cure.

And after thousands of years of humanity trying practically everything else…

His name is still Jesus. ❤️