So I was at work the other day, and as usual when I’m doing something mindless and routine, I started thinking things. It started out, as it so often does, with whole-body goosebumps and butterflies-in-the-stomach at the realization at how close I am to leaving this world. It’s amazing to think that I could just have a week left…or two days…or two hours. The knife is literally balanced on its edge, and any second it will fall. God’s adopted children will be caught away to safety and glory, and the earth will be left to destruction. I’ll be a little surprised, honestly, if we get through this month of September; everything is just lined up so perfectly, prophetically and politically. It could be that God still has work he wants accomplished first though – and we could be here another couple of years. I truly doubt it, though. I feel it in me, that he is ready to open that door into heaven; I think all of we born-again Christians who are awake and watching are feeling this…anticipation, this joy.
But on this particular day at work, my thoughts turned to some truly humbling thoughts. Before the earth was formed, God knew that he would make me. He knew everything I would ever do, all the mistakes and horrible decisions I would make, all the sins I would willfully commit, all the people I would hurt, and all my missed opportunities. He knew every evil thought I would ever have – he knew me, absolutely and completely – and despite this, he still loved me so much that he made me anyway. He knew that he would have to come down to earth in the weak body of a man, that he would have to suffer all the temptations and sorrows and pain of a mortal life – and at the end of that life, that he would die the most painful and humiliating death ever devised. He did that, for me.
For me. Because although I can’t fully comprehend this, God wants to spend his eternity with me. Me, personally. I’m not just some faceless part of humanity. He knows me, every part of me, and before the world was made, he was looking forward to welcoming me home, to giving me every good gift – things and experiences I can’t even imagine – despite how, compared to Creator of the entire cosmos, I should be completely insignificant. I am completely insignificant – except to him.
He loves me.
I cannot even describe to you how humbling that is. And how wonderful. And the truth is, he loves you just as much. Whoever you are. Whatever you’ve done. He knew your name and your soul from the beginning of the world; he made you, and no one will ever be able to love you more than he does. He loves you more in one second of your life than anyone else could in your entire lifetime. God is love, and he wrote in his book that he’s delaying the end of the world just in hopes that you will realize it. He wants to spend his eternity with you, as well. He doesn’t care what you’ve done, or how badly you’ve messed up. That, he can fix. He can remove the most terrible sin from you, and make you flawless and perfect before him. He wants to do that. He wants to take away your shame and embarrassment, your pain and your grief. He wants to give you peace and joy. Even during these last few days on earth, he wants to give you peace and joy regardless of your circumstances. And then, when he finally can delay no longer, he wants to snatch you up out of this world and into perfection.
Out of Eden 