What Do We Do Now?

So sure, this is what we were created to be—enjoyable, under authority, producers, rulers, creators, like Him. But what about the fall? We’ve strayed so far from the way we were created. What do we do now?

Since the fall, there’s a piece of us that’s unfulfilled—a piece that’s longing to see the fullness of our purpose in creation—a piece that’s longing for the way things were supposed to be. And whether or not we can totally reclaim all that was once ours on this earth, we’ve been promised an even greater inheritance to come. After a lifetime of searching for the answers to that age-old question, “Who are we?”, we are promised a new identity—a new name, written not in the sand to be washed away by the waves, but written in stone, never to be shaken (Revelation 2:17).

I believe that this question of our identity is the key to our freedom in Christ. For to know who we are, “without question or pause” (as Joe Darion so vividly expressed in his song, Impossible Dream), we can walk confidently in any situation, not being changed by our circumstances, but changing the world around us, taking our place again as rulers over creation.

Even though we’ve strayed from our original intent, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His values and character do not change, but at the same time, He is not stagnant. He does change in His desires, responses, and choices, as we can see throughout the Scriptures. He’s the same God who gave the law and who required blood sacrifice for lawlessness, but He’s also the same God who gave His own Son as a blood sacrifice so that we could enter His Kingdom by grace. He’s the same God who set out to kill all of Israel for their rebellion at Sinai, and He’s the same God who changed His mind when persuaded by Moses, and who spared Lot after negotiating with Abraham.

And though His values and character remain the same, and though His purposes remain forever, He also adapts His response to us amidst our sinful nature, and He responds to us in the context of our culture and understanding so that we, no matter how far we’ve strayed, can still find Him wherever we’re at.

And so now there are new expectations of us. With the knowledge of good and evil, we gained the capacity to do that which we know to be wrong. And after so long, we’ve become so deceived as to think that wrong is right, yet we wonder why we’ve grown so miserable.

To this, God responded and gave us guidelines to live in His promise (the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and all the other Mosaic law). He taught us how to care for His creation—even how to care for ourselves—so that we can have life and enjoy it to the fullest. So that the land flowing with milk and honey will be everlasting. So we will rule over all our enemies and have no fear of them, because the Lord will fight for us. It wasn’t for our salvation that He gave us the law, but for our joy and fulfillment, not that we should continue in fear and legalism, but that we should know how to live again, and that out of our order should be birthed our freedom.

And out of these commandments, we learn first and foremost that we are to love God, to love others, and to love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). We are to be lovers—first of God, for that is His greatest desire, and then that we would let the abundance of His love flow out over others. That we would love not only others as He does, but that we would also know and love ourselves as He does.

And at the close of His visit among us, Jesus gave us the command, “Go therefore [in His authority] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Not only should we know and be confident in whom He made us to be, but we should realize that our unique purpose and identities are to share with the world. With the confidence of His authority within us, we can share this gift of knowing who we are with others, bringing all of humanity back to the way it was intended from the beginning.

Continue to Conclusion ->