Acknowledgement is the first step toward salvation and there are two things that we must acknowledge before we can be saved:
- There is a God (creator), and His name is Jesus.
- We all have sinned and fall short of His glory.
Let’s begin with our first acknowledgement.
I can still remember the first time I saw a soda bottle. I was walking home from school, before the terror of social media and instant access news (after the era of walking up hill both ways through two feet of snow), when something avant-garde glistened in my peripheral. I changed course to investigate this odd occurrence. It had no color in its body, but its head was red as passion.
Thought’s racing, heart slowing, time stopping as I carefully removed it from a dusty brown bed of dirt. Its skin was smooth as Elvis’ hair. It had curves that put Betty Boop to shame and as I lifted it closer etching each detail into memory, a candied scent sweeter than grandma cookies teased my senses. I felt ashamed, sinful even, that I had never noticed anything like this before. Beholding such an awesome sight, I knew nothing more magnificent had ever blossomed from the ground.
Ok! I’ll confess. I made that story up. But I hope it helps get my point across. But, before I get to my point let me ask a question: is it more absurd that someone would describe a simple, drab soda bottle in such details, or that plastic grew from the ground?
When we see a soda bottle there’s no questioning the fact it was created in a factory. It doesn’t even take much of an acknowledgement. It’s a piece of plastic that has been melted and formed; mass produced without much thought. Soda bottles are more common than common sense and have past through the front door of every house in America, maybe even the world.
Yet, and I am willing to put money on this, no one has ever looked at a soda bottle and thought, man, I wonder what kind of plant this came from? Do you pick it from a tree or dig it out the ground? Such a thought is neanderthal. Even a child will look at it and ask, “how did they make this?”
However, when it comes to something as complex and thought retching as our universe, the masses give credit to this great, expanding wonder to the twins Chance and Happenstance. Talk about luck! Mass and energy were carried in by the wind landing in a nutrient-rich bed of nothingness where it could be watered by emptiness and shined upon by the great void. Resulting in an unrivaled garden of splendor. Perfectly cropped in rows of planets and suns- unimaginably sized. All in perfect order and functionability (yes, I know it’s technically not a real word).
Be honest, which story is easier to believe? A soda bottle being grown from the ground, or a garden of solar systems sprouting from nothingness? I bet 10k on the soda!
Maybe it’s instinct, intuition or reason. Regardless, deep down, we know that only life can reproduce life. That nothing can’t produce something and that if there is a constant, it has a reason.
God is not a man that he should lie (Numbers 23:19). Which means everything He says and does is absolute truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).” In this statement Jesus proclaims to be three things, the path to God, God, and the creator (we’ll save the trinity discussion for another time).
- Because Jesus was our sin offering, we have peace with God through Him and Him alone.
- As Aristotle put it, “we are the sum of our actions.” If all of God’s actions are absolute truth and Jesus proclaimed to be the truth, He is declaring that He is God.
- If only life begets life, Jesus’ claim of being life means He is the primal life, the original life from which all other life springs- the creator.
Before we can move on to our second acknowledgement we must first acknowledge and believe that there is a life-bearing God and that His name is Jesus.
Now, lets take a moment to ravel in the awe-inspiring beauty that the Creator has made. Imagine the soothing lullaby of the ocean as wading whales and dancing dolphins drift into the melodious melting of the sky, as the sun sets, exposing its royal jewels of amethyst and amber, jasper and jade, sapphire and sunstone, sliding on its night gown.
Is there anything more precious and innocent as a new-born baby? A human life in its most pure and vulnerable form. Waxing your heart in love and compassion as nothing else can, inspiring the dreams of mothers and forging the strength of fathers. A constant reminder of life’s value and fragility.
It would be easy to go on and on about all the beauty there is to behold in the world but just as easy, if not easier, to call to remembrance the other side of our reality. Amid all the beauty, evil. Of every shape and size. Destruction, chaos and turmoil. Murder, theft and addiction. Fear, anxiety, panic, stress, trauma, drama, hate, discord and worse. For every beautiful thing we encounter we’re blind sided by three times as much evil.
We encounter evil every time we step outside. It’s played out in front of us on our screens of choice. Each time we go grab groceries, take our kids to the park, drive down the street or visit the in-laws. Evil takes shape in every form, all shapes and many sizes. One thing evil is not, comparative.
We try to water-down the evil within us by comparing it to others. Well, at least I don’t do this we say, I’d never do that, I’m no Hitler! We will all be judged by the things we’ve done in this life whether good or bad and unfortunately for us, we are all guilty (Revelation 20:13)! We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). No one is righteous, no not one (Romans 3:9-20). Our good deeds are used tampons (Isaiah 64:6). Because in God’s eyes, according to His standards, if we have broken one law, we are guilty of breaking all of them (James 2:10-26).
Well, that sucks. So, you’re saying even if I only ever tell one lie in life, I’ll be as guilty as the one who stole my car, beat up my sister, and stayed high their whole life? Yes. You’re saying I’ll be as guilty as Hitler? Yes. That’s a bitter pill to swallow, a stubborn pill that gets stuck in the back your throat, gagging you until it’s dislodged just for it to gag you a second and third time- until it leaves a dissolved, pungent aftertaste.
This isn’t to say that the person who only tells one lie will be sentenced as harshly as Hitler, but it is to say their final destination is the same- hell. This is when our criticism of God takes full effect. How can a loving God? If God is so just? But they were a good person! Unfortunately for us, we are not the ones who decide what is good or evil. Our perception of divine justice is skewed. We compare good and evil with what we know and what we perceive, with what we’ve experienced.
From the moment Adam and Eve were kicked from the garden, the world was cursed with sin and plagued by iniquity. We were placed on a highway to hell. Ancient cultures began sacrificing animals to appease the ‘wrath’ of the gods and change their trajectory.
Despite our ancestors’ greatest efforts, the blood of animals was never sufficient. So, God, Himself, put aside His divine nature, humbly clothed Himself in humanity, suffering alongside His creation, until He offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for sin and iniquity, redeeming humanity and making peace with God on our behalf (Philippians 25-9).
Contrary to what most people believe, we were not born onto a stairway to heaven and kicked down the stairs, tumbling head over foot because of the first time we sinned. We first sinned because we were born on a highway to hell and sin is the natural impulse of anyone on that road. We are born separated from God and those who continue to live their life that way will die separated from God.
God doesn’t send us to hell, we are born already headed in its direction. But praise be to God that He loved us enough, while we were sinners, to intervene on our behalf and take our punishment upon his shoulders!
In summary:
Similarly, to a soda bottle, we are not here by chance.
And despite what we may feel or think, on our own accord, we are inherently evil.
Once we have acknowledged these two things, we can move on to the second step of salvation, believe.
Leave a Reply