Butterfly part 3
Creation. Where and when it all began. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. He created the mind and the body. He created... you. And since He hadn't yet created the sun or the other stars... and since He hadn't yet spoken (Let there be light)... it was dark. Too dark to see. In fact, it wasn't just dark, but we were under the POWER of darkness. Darkness ruled and reigned in our life. We did the best we could with what we had (or, more accurately, what we THOUGHT we had), but the problem was that we didn't think we had anything. We were stumbling around in the dark. Not knowing who we were and not knowing who God was. We thought we were dirty sinners, and we thought God was an angry taskmaster who hated His creation and wanted to punish it. This idea can even be perpetuated by the story of Noah and the ark. Because God did say He repented in His heart about His creation. And He sent flood water to wash it all away. But that's not exactly right, is it? He didn't wash it ALL away. Noah--who found grace in His eyes--was put into the ark (Jesus) and delivered from the evil world. See, God wasn't washing it AWAY. He was washing it CLEAN. Not dealing with wicked men, but with the wickedness OF men. I can't stress how important it is that even when we were void and without form... God's Spirit brooded over us. The dove (the Holy Spirit) fluttered His wings and started (to mix my metaphors) that butterfly effect that culminated with God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh at the cross. Jesus breathing on the disciples. The Holy Spirit coming with the sound of a great rushing wind. Something started way back in the beginning. And it grew and grew until it culminated, and manifested in it's fullness, on the cross. The light of the world shined, and all of a sudden we could see clearly. We could see God clearly--not as an angry taskmaster judging us (rather harshly) by our actions, but as a loving heavenly Father who had been with us the whole time, even when we ran from Him and hid from His presence. I once heard a preacher proclaim that God is a stalker. He won't give up on us no matter how far we run. No matter how low we go. Remember the old Psalm, "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there" (Psalm 139:8). He was there in the beginning, even though we couldn't see Him. Then He spoke light--Jesus, love--into our lives and we then we COULD see Him. He brooded over us, protecting us like that mother hen protecting her chicks. Wherever we went, He was there. Wherever we go, He IS there. And when we see Him, we be Him. The fluttering of His wings empowers us to flap our own wings. To partake of the Divine Nature. To live His life as we let HIM live it in us, and through us, and as us. And guess what: Just as the fluttering of His wings started something tremendous, so to does the flapping of our own!