Wasteland, part 2

What can we do?

We are a curious people. Is that a bad thing? We like to solve problems. How else can you explain a game show where they give the answer and you have to figure out the question. We like to solve problems. Our history is littered with individuals who saw a problem and asked, ‘What can we do?’

We have a long list of examples of such men and women. Men like Ladislo Biro. His name is one of those that jump to mind when you think of inventor’s right? How about Mary Phelps Jacob? I am sure that everyone is thankful for this pioneer who asked, 'what can we do?’ Douglas Engelbart is a name that probably rolls off your tongue. I am reminded of my gratitude as I type this. I have more, what do you think, should I share?

These great pioneers have had a great impact on our society and yet I didn't know any of their names or what they invented until I researched for this entry.

I want you to think about this. Do we really believe that without James Ritty we wouldn't be able to check-out at a grocery store? Do we truly believe that without Benjamin Franklin I would be working on this by candlelight?

You may be asking, 'what's the point'? You may be thinking, he's been up late typing, too much coffee. The point is, all of these, "inventors", have one thing in common. No, not the ability to say 'what can we do', they were all first. They ran to the patent company before the person down the street. They had the "EUREKA" moment, days before their next door neighbor. We are too easily impressed with ourselves. We are impressive, but not because of whom we are, but whose image we carry.

No matter how many wonderful inventions, or how many flavors of coffee with different names and ways to make it, we are still living in a world with a broken core. No matter how nice our home, the size of our bank account, we reside in a body with a broken core.

Where to next?

We should grieve over our broken core because we are hopeless to fix it. But if you know anything about our Creator, our God, then you realize already that this is not a bad thing, but a good one.

I want to give you just a glimpse of how God responds to the broken core. In Genesis 3 God comes to Adam and Eve and explains to them what their actions have brought. Historically man has little appreciation for consequences. If you have ever witnessed a government program go bad, then you know this already. When we throw a rock into a pond we think we just added a rock to the pond. We are typically not looking at the ripple and waves. If the rock is big enough, like the meltdown of our core, the ripple is enormous.

In Genesis 3 God explains just how large the ripple is. Man, woman, creation, and serpent get an explanation. If we simply stop with the explanation then what we have is hopelessness. The core is broken, everything is in meltdown, all is decaying, dying. But look at what God does. Read on and see who our Creator is, who our God wants to be. In Genesis 3:21 "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them."

How many disasters have you had around your home? Have your children ever decided that the paper on the wall was more drawing pad than decoration? Do you know just how much toilet paper it takes to plug the toilet? Maybe something worse. Come home to find your child passed out on the garage floor? Found their stash in their dirty clothes?

As I was writing this I experienced a "disaster." I took our three children to watch a junior high basketball game. Well, I guess more accurately, I took our children to play while I watched a junior high basketball game. I told the children that I would buy them a treat at the game.

Our oldest insisted on Skittles. You know, those bite size candies, taste the rainbow? About half way through the bag, as I attempted to watch basketball and keep an eye on the kids, I heard what sounded like marbles cascading over the tile floor. I looked over to see our son frantically trying to retrieve the candy before it spent too much time on the ground, five second rule. After explaining that the five second rule was void in public places, never know where that floor has been, we began to retrieve the "disaster."

I decided that our son had had his chance with candy that night. He was just going to be stuck with less candy than his sisters. Nathan had his chance with his Skittles, tough luck. That was my response. Thankfully his mom had another plan. She purchased him another bag. She explained the need to share with his sisters, but she wanted him to enjoy his treat as well.

I modeled what comes with the broken core, my wife showed me a glimpse of God. Isn't that what Jesus teaches us? Jesus explains that He "did not come to judge the world, but to save it," and again, "If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent." Judgment comes with what is broken and Jesus warns us not to. Like God clothing Adam and Eve, my wife extended Grace. Did my son deserve another bag? No. Did his actions draw her response or did her love?

The world was broken, turned into a wasteland by sin. The core was cracked, and is still in the same condition. What did God do? Did he tell man tough luck, you dropped your bag. You had the treat of the garden and you blew it. No, God explains the consequences of the meltdown, and then he made them a new set of clothing.

I don't react that way to my disasters and they are of no consequence when compared, but God did, and it is in this simple truth, this plain statement that gives us hope. The core is broken, the wasteland is unavoidable and God offers us clothing.

What if Jesus didn’t come just to take away our sins, but instead to take away our sins so that we could be clothed? Would that change the way we see hope? Would that change what we hope for? Would it change the way we live in this wasteland?