Subtitle: From the Creator of the universe.

Excerpt: From the Creator of the universe.

Author: Sojouring Servant

God has been creating a story since before time began. It’s a love story between the creator of the entire universe and you, reading this article right now. God Himself has been screaming out for you to come to know Him, all creation and all of history testifies to this fact. 

But what is the story God’s writing, and what does it have to do with us? To answer that, we need to open God’s love letter, the Bible.

God Rules

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” — Genesis 1:1 

Like any good story, the Bible begins by establishing its setting and principle character: God Himself. Now, this section of the Bible is incredibly scrutinized but I think a lot of people gloss over one of its main points.

God didn’t have to create anything.

A lot of times Christians can try to put God into a box with our complex, theological arguments, but the simple fact of God being God means that He is perfectly content and needs nothing. But therein lies the first great revelation of this love story: God chose to create us.

God, a being outside of time and space, created time and space in order to make a universe where He could exist with a world that would eventually be inhabited by you and me, creatures that God imagined in perfect detail before this world was even created. That fact alone just blows my mind.

Now, when you read the next verse, take a second and actually read what it says. It’s a powerful message that will make you think twice about yourself and about God.

“Then God said ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” — Genesis 1:26a 

It’s incredible. You, me, and every human who ever lived and ever will live was designed as a reflection of the most perfect being in the entire universe. Our modern world tries to take this claim out of the truth that it’s based in. They rightfully claim that every person is specific and unique and deserving of respect, but when they remove it from the God who gives us meaning and also claim that we are just a collection of atoms that happened to exist, then their arguments feel hollow.

But if we’re supposed to be a reflection of God, then why is the world so messed up right now?

We Sinned

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” — Ephesians 2:1–3

A lot of times people will say something like “if you want to see what’s wrong with the world, go to a war zone” or something like that, and sentiments like that aren’t wrong, but oftentimes the scope is too large that the problem doesn’t feel real.

However, the problem is much closer, and we all realize that deep down. The alcoholic who drinks his pain away knows it, the gambler who can’t quit knows it, and the criminal sentenced to death knows it. We’re all broken, fractured, damaged from the mirrors of God we were created to be.

We all sinned. We all know we need God, we just try and run to things that won’t satisfy us, instead.

“For his invisible attributes, name, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world.” — Romans 1:20

I am convinced that many people who do not believe in God do not have a problem with the “logical absurdity” of it, but the implications of that fact on their lives. God’s existence must mean that something we did went wrong, because all of us are broken.

Some may say we have a “God-sized” hole in our hearts, but we actually are completely void without God. We are dead. We messed up. We needed somebody to take our place, to bear our punishment that we all totally deserved. Apart from from a miraculous Savior, we have no hope.

God Provided

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” — Ephesians 4–7

I wrote at the beginning of this article that this was a love story. Well, with any good love story, there’s always the grand gesture towards the end of the movie. Now, this is a gross oversimplification, and don’t take the analogy too far, but I use it to illustrate the point of God’s love.

Think about it this way: God, the MOST POWERFUL BEING WHO CREATED THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, decided to take on the form of a man. Science estimates that the known universe is 93 billion light-years in diameter. The same God who made that voluntarily took on the form of a baby who would grow no taller than 6 feet. That’s not even taking into account all of the preparation and prophesy and planning that was set in place before Jesus even arrived. Like the best grand gestures, God had a meticulous plan that was set in motion at least thousands of years before Jesus was born to the virgin, Mary.

And yet, we’re still not at the craziest part of His gesture, because after about 33 years of suffering every temptation known to man and resisting them all, Jesus was falsely accused, arrested, abandoned by everyone He knew, tried, slandered by His peers, beat, harassed, blinded, abused, mocked, scorned, whipped, scourged, tortured, and brutally nailed to a jagged wooden cross, where He hung naked before the entire town of Jerusalem while He waited to die.

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’” — Matthew 27:46 

The most painful part of all for Jesus wasn’t the whippings, it wasn’t the beatings, it wasn’t even being abandoned by His disciples or hanging naked on the cross. It was being cut off from the perfect communion with God. Jesus bore our punishment, which was separation from a perfect and holy God.

It’s the greatest act of love; accepting death for people who hated Him.

Jesus Gives

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16

Though the family of someone who was murdered can sometimes find it in their hearts to forgive the murderer, punishment is still necessary. Justice has to be served, and God is perfectly just, as it is His nature. 

In the same way, our punishment for sin is separation from God, because we chose to forsake Him. But in our sin, in our death, in our forsaken state, God chased us down and sacrificed Himself in our place. 

It’s as if we had set fire to our home, and we had long since passed out from inhaling too much smoke. Then, Jesus comes bursting into the house, getting scorched by the flames in the process, but He still picks our body up and carries us to a window where we won’t be touched by the flames or the smoke. In that moment, He bears the smoke and the flames that we created, all so we might survive.

So that we might have eternal life with Him.

We Respond

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:8–10

Now, after the big romantic gesture in the love story, comes the very tense moment where you wait for the love interest to either accept or reject the confession. Much in the same way, God is waiting for your response. 

God has written the greatest love letter in history, just for you. Open up your Bible and read it. Start with John, see what Jesus Himself said and did. 

A radical love like God’s demands change; it demands a different way of life.

“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” — 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a

So take the time to get to know the author of the greatest love story of all time. He’s been calling out to you for thousands of years. He wants you to know that you’ve been given new life.

Just like Barabbas , the criminal who was set free when Jesus was crucified, we too have been set free. We were once dead, but through Christ we have life.

The one who loves you more than than anything is calling out to you.

He wants to bring you back to life.