Strangely enough, I remember even as a 6 year old boy, how incredible it was to hear that there was something more to life than riding my bike, etch-a-sketch or trying my hardest to avoid getting cooties from the opposite sex.
Even at the ripe age of 6, I distinctly remember that the concept of a loving God who so badly wanted a relationship with me that He sent His only Son to die for me so that He could, wasn't all that difficult for me to grasp. In fact, it just plain made sense–of a lot of things.
What a tremendous perspective to know that long before I ever even existed, before my parents, parents parents even existed, God was–and He had a plan. His plan was to create human beings in His likeness with which to share all of creation. Mankind would be given dominion and authority over the earth to rule and reign in life.
We all know the events which transpired that ultimately led to the condition of the world we see today. Yet what I see going on all around me almost every minute of every day is a society dead set on fabricating their own self-serving version of paradise. Perhaps a more fitting view would be that if we don't quite have it in us to pursue something beyond our own existence, at the very least we can surround ourselves with a sufficient level of distraction to pacify our appetite for close encounters of the God-kind.
We've been blessed beyond measure with 5 physical senses with which to experience, encounter and enjoy all of God's creation, yet we allow our desire to feed our fleshly appetites to subvert anything God may be trying to do in and though our lives.
While we may not even notice, instead of beginning and continuing our lives in and with God, realizing that His desire is to bring us into a level of experiential Christianity that we never thought possible, we allow ourselves to become so distracted by the world around us, that we default to merely ending our life on this earth in God (somewhere between our deathbed and our last breath), as though our life on this earth actually represented the true measure of our existence. While in fact, it is merely a gateway into eternity. (Which from what I hear is a really long time.)
About every two or three years I find what I believe to be true about God comes full circle. At the same time, I always tend to experience some level of regret for shying away from what I know, instead of pressing further into the things of God. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant in Revelation when He talked about coming back to your first love. When you're in love, that person consumes your thoughts, affects your words and dictates your actions. Your day begins and ends with your affections toward that person on your mind.
My prayer is that was all learn to trust God with abandon, have faith like a child and begin to truly see God for the loving Father He really is. Imagine the sheer joy we bring to God's face when He catches a glimpse of His kids understanding and operating in the dominion and authority He created us to walk in and enjoy.
