Clay in the Hands

Genesis teaches us that God created humankind for relationships.  When man was created, God then created woman so that the man would not be lonely.  But even beyond the relationship between man and woman, both were created for relationship with God.

But in order for this to be a true and authentic relationship, humans needed a choice.  If the first man did not have a choice but to love God, then the relationship wouldn’t be real?  In order for the relationship to be meaningful, God allowed an option.  Humans could choose to have a relationship with the creator but they could just as readily choose to ignore the creator.

When we choose to ignore God and go it on our own, we fall prey to our own selfishness and that leads to sin.  Sin then creates a barrier between us and God.

Throughout the generations since that first man and woman, sin has continued to move humankind farther and farther from God.

But God’s plan to redeem humankind back to the relationship for which we were created meant something drastic had to be done.  God had to put on skin and walk among us to show us the path back to where we were intended to be from the beginning.  So Jesus emptied himself and came to earth to teach us what it means to have a relationship with God.

But there was still the issue of sin and the way it had deformed the creation.  Something had to be done about that.  The barrier created by sin had to be pulled down.  The greatest lesson had to be taught.  The only way to defeat sin and pull the barrier down was a sacrifice.  So Jesus went to the cross to defeat sin.  He offered himself as payment for sin – and not just some sin, all sin!

What we learn from this lesson is that in order to fully live in authentic relationship with God, we must die to our sin – die to our self-centered mentality and lifestyle.  When we do, and focus our lives on living for God we begin to experience the life God intended – the relationship that God has desired from the start.  But this only possible through the gift of grace Jesus gave us through his sacrifice.

God invites each of us into this relationship.  But we are given a choice.  We can choose to go it our own way – or we can choose to surrender our desires to the one who created us and knows our needs better than we know them ourselves.

Your choice.