One of the most challenging things I’ve tried to wrap my mind around over the years has been the fundamental principal of the whole “being saved” thing.  Our 3-dimensional brains cannot begin to comprehend things beyond a certain point so what information we can’t process we tend to dismiss or deny.  The really big thinkers, the scientific patent-writing life-altering inventors, the master innovators of all time have probably had the mental aptitude to understand some of these more cosmic, spiritual things but many times veer off the path of truly big God-size breakthroughs because of their inability to believe that at the end of things there is such an uncondiitonal love just waiting for them…..all they have to do is ask for it.  Somehow, that’s just way too simple.

I am an avid reader, these days I mostly enjoy material that makes me think about where my life is going, am I striving to be a better person, what things should I be incorporating into who I am growing into so that God’s influence is reflected in my life (but I don’t want to be preachy either).  I have seen more people steer clear of Christianity because they had someone “preachy” just talking at them all the time or trying to convict them about right vs. wrong, heaven vs. hell, church vs. no church, etc. etc.  That is the biggest turn-off ever, in my opinion.  Nothing about how Jesus conducted himself lends merit to anybody acting that way.  Of course, that gets us back to the matter of what is that Jesus thing all about anyway?

One of the best stories I’ve ever heard helped me understand the reasons behind why Jesus was sent to us.  First, we have to agree upon some simple truths like there are laws that govern the earth and the universe.  Not written laws but scientific laws, the law of gravity, physical body laws (for example how our bodies are made) and sometimes even unforeseen consequences stemming from “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”.  When thinking about the possibility of God laying down all of the earthly, heavenly and scientific laws and how mind-blowing all of that is, again our feeble brains try to comprehend how all of that might work and why.

On my way to work one day several years ago, I was listening to the Wind FM (88.3 here in southwest Missouri) and heard the following story which I am probably going to paraphrase alot so please bear with me.  There was an Indian village where an entire tribe lived.  At some point in time, several of the families started reporting that things were missing from their huts.  This went on for some time and seemed to be getting worse with nobody being able to figure out who might be stealing things from the other families.  Finally, after a period of time, the Indian Chief called a meeting of the entire tribe and announced that everyone should be on the lookout for the “thief” and when they were found, they would be whipped within an inch of their lives.  His hope was that this announced punishment or consequence would deter anybody from stealing. Several days later, some of the highest members in the tribe came to the great Chief to let him know that they had caught the person responsible for stealing from the other families.  The Chief commanded them to go and tie the thief to a pole in the center of the village and he would be there shortly to deliver the punishment.  Several of the tribe members looked at the Chief and asked if he were sure that this is something he wanted to do.  The Chief stated that everyone was very clear on what would happen if they were caught stealing and he had no choice but to follow through with the punishment.  When the Chief arrived at the center of the village, no words could describe his shock when he saw that tied to the pole waiting for her punishment was his own stooped, beloved mother.  Unable to gain his composure at such a heart-wrenching discovery, he brokenly announced the same punishment be carried out.  However, he walked quietly over to the pole, gently untied his mother and asked that he be allowed to take her place instead.  The Indian Chief received the whipping that was intended for his mother and he did this in order to fulfill the law that had been decreed as the consequence for her blatant crime.

The same as God clearly stated that death and eternal separation from him would be the consequence if Adam and Eve partook of the fruit from the Tree of Life.  I don’t think that God did this to “hold them back” or keep them from having something that was really great, he knew in his infinite wisdom that their minds were not capable of processing all of the knowledge that came with eating that fruit.  As a loving father, he had warned them about the tree, the one and only thing that he had withheld from them because he knew that the effects of eating that fruit would be a self-awareness (on all levels) that they were not ready for. And he gave them a consequence of what would happen if they disobeyed him.  Very similar to raising our own children.  Children thrive when there are guidelines, when things are put in place to keep them safe and feeling loved.  And when they are disobedient, they should understand and expect consequences.

And even when presented with the fact that Adam and Eve had disobeyed him and eaten from the tree, God loved them and all of mankind so much that he found a way to not only follow through on the consequence of that one huge moment of disobedience but to ensure that we had a way to return to a relationship with him, one very similar to those first days when Adam and Eve walked with him in the Garden of Eden.  He sent Jesus Christ, his very own spirit contained in a man’s body, to be punished in our place.  He knew that Jesus would be offered up as the one to take the punishment originally intended for all of mankind yet rather than rush right to that after Jesus was born to Mary, God allowed Jesus to spend a reported 33 years of his life here with us providing an example for all of us to follow.