Christians and non Christians alike yearn for more love, joy and peace in their lives. There is a brokenness, even an emptiness, inside. Even without saying it, we try to “fix this.” Usually, we try to “fix this” on our own.
What is “this”? As Christians, we are able to describe what is taking place. We read in Genesis 1 how God created humanity in His image. He called us “supremely good.” Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose to focus on their own desires, choosing not to trust God, and sin came into the world. With sin, came pain, suffering and death. The brokenness was so great that God now saw humanity as His enemies.
Do you see how this could create a yearning in us? We were first made in God’s image and to love as He loves, but sin comes in and destroys our image before God.
Often, we focus here on sin, but we see our sin as reason for God to judge us and sentence us to death. We focus on what is to come. We want to make sure we trust in Jesus so that when we die we go to heaven and not hell.
However, this “gap,” from supremely good to God’s enemy, is a problem we wrestle with now. It’s a problem, Christians and non Christians, try to fix on their own. Again, we don’t use the language of “fixing this,” but it is what we are trying to do. We try to “fix this” by having just the right job, seeking the perfect relationship, getting a certain number of “likes” on social media or expecting people in our lives to treat us in certain ways.
We are trying to “fix this” on our own. We are trying to find peace. The prophet Isaiah talks about a man who chops down a tree. Some of the tree he uses in a fire to make a meal. Some of the tree he carves into an image. He then cries out to this image and says, “Save me, for you are my god!” (Isaiah 44:17)
How can a god that he made save him? But we do this all of the time when we look for more love, joy and peace from the outside. True peace comes in being restored, going from God’s enemy to supremely good. This only happens when we trust in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through His work, we are made new.
So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
You are supremely good, transformed, made new through the work of Jesus Christ. He did this so that you can be with Him and love as He loves.
Look for where you seek to find your peace. Consider how you try to “fix this” on your own. Being more aware is a great place to start, but remember too, thank Jesus for making you new.
Blessings,
Pastor Matt
PS - We invite you to click here to watch a show we did on Connecting LIVE that shares more about this topic.