Sep
16
Preparing for the Showroom
Filed Under Devotional
As I study Scripture and ponder what I read and look up, I’ll get, from time to time, a sudden burst of the obvious. I know that what I discover for myself would cause others to say, “Whoa, dude, where have you been?” But, we all have to get on down the road at our own pace. My last slap to the forehead came when I was mulling the question, “God, why did You let Adam and Eve screw up?” When you think about it, the whole scenario has been a huge production just to get to a point when a bunch of folks are reconciled with Him and living in perfection. As I narrowed my thinking and focused on my own question, I settled in on trying to get into God’s train of thought as it pertained to His ultimate goal. He wants a certain kind of man and woman to have a certain kind of relationship with Him, then spend eternity with Him. I think we are very shortsighted when we read this passage:
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27
Really, He slapped the bones and meat together fairly quickly, but I think it’s a mistake to assume that being created means being finished. The next few chapters are devoted to introducing man to himself. You see innocence, lordship, marriage, disobedience, sin, righteousness, and then He wipes the slate clean with the Flood. I see a statement that says, “Creation, this is who I am and all the rest is who you are. Now, to get started on the best part, you coming to the decision to come back to Me by your own decision, I’ll be sending you to finishing school.”
That process is, of course, what the other 66 and a half books of the Bible are about. The flash for me was that God did not make man. He is making man. All the whining and complaining I do is like the car halfway through the assembly line complaining, “Why are you putting tires on me? Why are you adding seats? Why are you giving me windows? Do I need windows? Ouch! That spot weld hurt. Does that guy have to put those bolts in with so much torque? Man, it’s hot in this paint room. Do I have to be green? Why not blue?” All of this is to make sure man can stand up to slavery, walking (and I mean a LOT of walking), persecution, enlightenment, and finally reconciliation.
The final step, of course, is to be delivered to the showroom floor.