Waypoints: The Fall

If you are a regular reader of my View articles (or blog) you know that a few weeks back I went backpacking with my son Jack.  Our final day it poured during a 3 hour thunderstorm as we hiked the last five miles to our car. When we arrived home things were still quite wet as you can imagine. In the drying out process Barb left our hiking boots out to dry in the sun in our front yard. This trip was the very first time Jack had used his new boots.  A little while later Barb called me to ask if I moved the boots. Long story short – someone stole our hiking boots right out of our front yard!

What in the world? How could this happen?

The answer is found in the third chapter of Genesis. That can sound far too removed from actually having anything to do with the swiping of our boots in 2015. How can anything thousands of years old have any relevance on my today? Well, the thread of motivation has remained the same from the first sin all the way to September 2015.

God had created the most spectacular setting anyone could ever experience. He spent a week making a place for Adam and Eve to enjoy all there is to enjoy in life. There was not one thing that could have improved what God had made for them! Not only was it beautiful but it included perfect and meaningful relationships as well as enjoyable work. Adam and Eve were recipients of all these good gifts of God.

But the story takes a drastic turn when Adam and Eve go after the one thing that God said they could not have. They went after what wasn’t theirs to possess. They were rejecting the idea that any limitations should be placed on them. They wanted to be God! No one, including the one and only true God, was going to tell them what to do. Adam and Eve wanted it all; somebody else wanted our hiking boots. So Adam, Eve and the thief took what wasn't theirs.

Now taking our boots is not nearly as tragically impactful as Adam and Eve's disobedience but it is intimately tied directly to that first grab for power. Ever since that first sin humanity has been bent away from God. We continue to lean in our own directions and claim what God says is not ours to claim. We do this when we disobey God's perfect "directions for life" in any way at all. In Genesis 3 the sinners wanted to be like God - no limitations. This continues to be the motivation for sins today; the person who stole our boots and my sins as well.

Even in the midst of such pervasive bad news - God is victorious! He comes to Adam and Eve with what they need to come back into relationship with them. The Creator asks the rebellious creation "Where are you?" (Gen. 3.9) They are hiding in shame, nakedness and fear. God knows this and so much more for them and for us today. He acknowledges that the mess is profound and deep, but He can and will fix it. There will be one to come that will "crush the enemy"  of our fears, our sins and our death. (Gen. 3.15) His name is Jesus.

Well, even though my hiking boots are gone, I can be thankful my sins are gone too,

Pastor Nick