Creation is groaning! Crying out! Eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. Are you the answer?
So why is creation groaning?
Because the Father has a dream.
One that has not been realized. One of family, adventure, and freedom. A dream full of excitement and life. But we decided to go our own way and live our own lives, living for ourselves, making a mess of creation, and denying the very heart of God.
But he is not finished. He is pursuing his dreams. He is pursuing his children. This is the Bible in a nutshell. One of many verses from the old testament is Jeremiah 3:19: “‘I myself said,‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.’” And Jesus himself says in Matt. 23:37, “‘How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not have it.’”
All creation is crying out for the dream to be realized! That the sons and daughters would walk in intimate union with the Father, being led by his Spirit. But how do we step into that dream? By stepping out of our own.
Step 1: Surrender
“For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die” -Romans 8:13.
“‘If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, this is the one who will save it.’” -Luke 9:23-24.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” -Galatians 2:20
Taking up your cross means laying down your rights to your own life, just as Jesus did. Hand him the keys, get into the passenger seat. It’s hard. We have to trust his goodness here. The whole temptation in the garden was that they could decide things for themselves and be the god of their own lives.
We must go the other direction. Be part of a different story.
We were created for so much more.
Step 2: Intimacy
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself, unless it is something he sees the father doing; for whatever the father does, these things the son also does in the same way. For the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing.” -John 5:19-20
“‘If anyone loves me, he will follow my word; and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.’” -John 14:23
“‘I will ask the father, and he will give you another helper, so that he may be with you forever.’” -John 14:16
And there it is. This is how we are led by the Spirit. That is the heart of our God: To dwell with his people, with his children, forever.
When we stop trying to fend for ourselves, we are able to make space for the Lord to come and lead us. When we say “no” to our own limited dreams we are able to say “YES” to his dreams. As Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus”. Then we, and the rest of creation, are able to step into “the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
Take a minute and ask God what dream He has for you