Today we are used to hearing, seeing, and experiencing “bad news”. Jesus himself never turned a blind eye to suffering in the world instead He offered an alternative. He simply said, “I have told you these things so you may have peace in Me. In the world you will have much trouble. But take hope! I have power over the world!” (John 16:33). People living their lives blind to troubles in the world usually end up destroyed when faced with it. Blaming God for “what He allows to happen” is a common reaction.

 

The truth is, we were created perfect, in a perfect world without suffering. “God made man in His own likeness...He made both male and female...God saw all that He had made and it was very good” (Genesis 1:27 & 31). Breaking it down, it was (with Adam and Eve) and still is our choice to live outside of that perfection. It was a choice of selfishness that robbed humanity from the very thing that would and could keep us forever in a perfect, beautiful relationship with our Creator. God allowed humanity the ability to choose, to choose to love and trust Him or to choose chasing after fleeting desires that lead to more chasing. Blaming Adam and Eve for the eternal separation between God and man is a common reaction.

 

But, because of our choice to follow selfishness there is a unpassable divide between where we are and where God is. “God’s hand is not so short that it can’t save, and His ear is not closed that it can’t hear. But your wrong-doings have kept you away from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you...” (Isaiah 59:1-2). God didn’t create the cavern, we chased after it, we wanted to be able to trust in ourselves and create our own destinies and find pleasure in created things and not in our Creator… or at least Adam and Eve did, right? Yes, they were the first to choose it but they weren’t the last. Daily, we choose every option available before turning to God (usually only in desperation) and then wondering why terrible things happen around us. “Why doesn’t God do something about this then?” is a common reaction.

 

Done. God already did everything in order to restore our relationship with Him. While we were in the middle of our war against needing God, against believing in His very existence, He did the unthinkable. He allowed His one and only son, Jesus, to take the bullet for us. The eternal consequence of separation from God was forever erased when Jesus paid the ultimate price for us, His life. Just like the soldier surrendering their life to protect civilians they will never know, is this truth: “No one can have greater love than to give his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus never in His life on earth made the choice to follow His own selfish choices. He did the thing that every human has failed at doing, He obeyed, trusted and followed God completely. Jesus’ sacrifice of giving His life, paid the price that our self-separation from God required.

 

So, if Jesus’ sacrifice restored the rift between us and God why aren’t we back to living in a continual state of perfection? It all comes back to choice. It is our choice now to live in the connection that Jesus created. We can stop blaming everyone and everything else for what we created and choose to realize there is a real solution. The solution has never been setting ourselves up as God (the thought behind selfish living) and then wondering why our own “magical powers” aren’t strong enough to save us. In contrast the solution is following Jesus example of surrender. We can surrender our lives to God and say, “I choose You! I choose to live my life for You and to learn how to trust You completely. I choose to follow Your example not living every moment of everyday living for myself, but to realize Your greater purpose for my life and to love people in the same way that You have loved me. You exist and I choose to accept Your love and Jesus’ sacrifice to correct everything that I have tirelessly tried to mess up.”

 

Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, those simple declarations can break us free from the darkness we have allowed ourselves to live in. It is this hope that we are praying to bring to the hearts and lives in Puebla, Mexico and also for anyone who reads this post. You were created with a purpose. Choose life, and life to its fullest that can only be found in Jesus’ love.

 

That is it! That is why we exist, to know God’s love and to share His love. God’s “love does not give up, is kind, isn’t jealous, selfish or prideful. It doesn’t do the wrong thing and never is selfish, it isn’t angry and it doesn’t remember the suffering that comes from being hurt by someone. It isn’t happy with sin, instead is happy with the truth. It never gives up, believes, and hopes for all things, endures and never comes to an end” (I Corinthians 13:4-8).