Let There Be

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. "Rabbi," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you." Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God...I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life."
          - John 3, NLT

This conversation is one of a few places in Scripture that give us the concept of salvation being a rebirth of sorts - a recreation. What Jesus is telling Nicodemus here is that our spirits must be made new again if we are to see God's Kingdom here on earth. The theme of God making his people new again, though, is a thread throughout the Christian cannon. In fact, salvation is best understood, I believe, in terms of the grander scheme of creation. Specifically, we are created "ex nihilo" or "out of nothing" and so to this "nothingness" we have the propensity to return without the sustenance or sustaining power of God. So you and I, right now, are being held together by God's will that we do so. This is why, at death, we would face eternal separation from God; that is, our ultimate return to our base "nothing" state. Incredibly, our Creator longs for us to be with him and so salvation is essentially accepting his will to keep us with him forever and totally forsake our "nothingness".

It's important to remember, however, that we are in process. You and I are not able to achieve this higher state on our own. This is one of the reasons for Christ's coming, that you and I can become what we were intended to become: God's perfect creation. So, when we find ourselves in darkness and reverting to nothing, remember the words that called us from that nothing.

This idea was rattling in my head the other day when I was listening to this song. It is a song about creation and it's opening line says "darkness hovering, grasping everything it seems...". It then goes on to describe primordial earth: void and chaotic. Through a series of calls from afar, the song masterfully builds to the revelation of God's command "let there be light".

Application:
 
In our lives, we periodically find ourselves in dark times. Life can tend to feel - spiritually, emotionally and sometimes physically - like that chaotic mess that was before creation. With Christ as our base for faith and his love as our motivator for new life, day in and day out, we can sing "let there be light" and see his love illuminate our lives once more.

This is a short blog and there could be much more said about the connection between the Genesis poem of creation and our daily martyrdom to our chaotic and dark falleness. Still, I hope that in these few lines, you remember to think of your mornings as a new birth - every morning - and when life gets a little "primordial", I hope that you remember to sing "let there be light".

peace,
C.M.