Do you remember the Extreme Makeover TV series? There were at least two I recall, one focused on transforming people and the other focused on transforming homes. I love the before and after pictures. Isn’t it also fun seeing the peoples’ reactions when they see the finished makeover? The differences can be overwhelming.
There is a before and after picture that takes place in the beginning of creation too. It may be even more extreme than anything seen on the TV show.
We said last week that we were created in the image of God. When God made us, we were with Him. We have this wonderful image from the Garden of Eden, the place the Bible mentions as the first “home” for humanity. Here in the Garden Adam and Eve walked with God and talked with God. They saw each other face to face.
They had a real relationship with God.
However, Adam and Eve sinned against God. They chose to focus on what they wanted and not on God. They chose not to trust God, instead choosing their own desires and preferences over His.
This resulted in an extreme change of relationship with God.
Now, instead of being face to face with God, God tells Moses in Exodus 33:
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glorious presence.”
19 The Lord said, “I’ll make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I’ll proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord.’ I will be kind to whomever I wish to be kind, and I will have compassion to whomever I wish to be compassionate. 20 But,” the Lord said, “you can’t see my face because no one can see me and live.”
God is holy and righteous, to see Him, to be with Him face to face, would surely kill us. This sounds rather different than what Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden, doesn’t it?
It is no wonder that we struggle to love perfectly as God loves. It is no wonder that we don’t see things as God sees them. Our relationship with God changed.
Yes, we were made to be with God. We were made in God’s image to love as He loves. Unfortunately, through sin, this changed for all of humanity. Our relationship with Him changed.
Thankfully, God did not leave it at this. Instead, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God provided a way for our us to be made new, bringing us into relationship with Him again.
Blessings,
Pastor Matt
PS - In Christ, God makes you new. He sees you as holy and blameless. Please consider joining us Sunday morning as we explore why we struggle to believe God when He says this about us.