I’m trying to win the HGTV Dream Home again this year. It is located in Utah and built on a beautiful, riverfront property. I would rather have won last year’s, but I didn’t. Last year I only missed one day registering to win that beautiful home in Stowe, Vermont. The day of the drawing, I felt like I had as good a chance as anyone to win. But I didn’t. And I was surprised at how disappointed I felt! I had already imagined calling my friends and family, and planned to spend the entire summer entertaining them in my newly won luxury. I’ve been told I am an optimist…therefore reality is sometimes disappointing.
I just finished reading an article in USA Today that was titled, “God, Religion, Atheism…So What?” A lot of people aren’t interested in knowing God because they don’t like Him. Why should they like a God who is supposed to be all powerful, but allows tornadoes, earthquakes and disease to kill people, even innocent children? Let’s face it…we Christians struggle to like God sometimes too, for all of those same reasons. Why does God disappoint us? The answer: He doesn’t.
God created us in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). God is perfect and he created us to be perfect, pure and protected in the Garden of Eden. No wonder we are disappointed with the world we have today. We don’t live in Eden anymore, but we still want to. God gave us perfection because that is what he wanted for us. It wasn’t like Adam and Eve were clueless…they knew they weren’t supposed to eat from that tree and they knew what would happen if they did. God didn’t disappoint Adam and Eve…they disappointed him. God keeps his promises….every time.
And that is the good news. God keeps his promises…every time. We blew perfection the first time around and we ended up with an imperfect world. But God gives us glimpses of perfection all the time. Do you remember a moment when you held a newborn baby, marveled at a sunrise, sunset or brilliant landscape, or experienced someone’s capacity for love or bravery. We have experienced moments of perfection…but only moments. We don’t live in Eden…yet.
God said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Death wasn’t punishment, it was provision. God made you for Eden and he knew you wouldn’t be happy anywhere else. And God so loved you, “that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17). God keeps his promises…every time. God still wants you to live in Eden and he made it possible.
God doesn’t disappoint us…he never promised that this world would be Eden. In fact, he promised us it isn’t. How do we reach people who say “So what?” We tell them about heaven…and live like we are dying to get there. I’m going to register twice a day to win the HGTV dream home…but my mansion in heaven is the home God has promised I will win. And God keeps his promises…every time.
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