The Beginning

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1 NIV)  What a beautiful start to the greatest story (luckily, a non-fiction story) ever written!  And I appreciate how direct and concise it is ... it doesn't hide behind an ambiguous analogy but boldly declares the direction the rest of the book will take.  In the beginning was the living, everlasting God who decided to create everything that we know, including us.  Without this initiating act, none of us would have a story to tell.


The rest of The Book explains why we're here.  God created us to have a loving relationship with, to "walk" with in perfect unity (Genesis 1:27).  By our choices, we separated ourselves from that perfect unity (Genesis 3:6-7, Romans 3:23).  But despite our arrogance in thinking that our decisions are better than the all-knowing Creator and our disregard for the consequences of our behavior, He initiated a secondary survival plan ... grace and forgiveness through the humiliating death of Christ, a perfect, blameless sacrifice.  And now, having received that redemption, our job is to make sure that other people learn that story ... by watching our story!  In 1 Peter 3:15-16, Peter writes, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."  We are to live and be an example, while boldly proclaiming why we are "different" and why we make the harder decisions to live in obedience to the Lord rather than following our human desire to live to please ourselves.  I imagine that Christians are supposed to be like mobile, interactive kiosks filled with information about the Lord where anyone we interact with has full access to saving knowledge!


So that is my "purpose" in this blog.  And I hope that by writing it, I remember my purpose as well.