The created world is in process. Things take time. Humans, like all living creatures, grow and develop. Our relationship with the Timeless God (mysteriously) is an encounter in time and space. Spirit encounters matter. It is all too much to fathom. As I have said before, God takes humanity and His creation much more seriously than most Christians. The Lord does not disdain His creation as so many of us do.
God's purpose, as expressed in limited human language, was to make us to love and be loved, to know and be known. He made us for laughter and joy, for trust and kindness, for myriad wonderful things. Probably, He created us to grow and develop and from the beginning that was part of the plan. We were born incomplete, just as Adam had needs, so do we. Hence, the unitive process---becoming one with God--was probably always a process. He speaks to us (Word) and breaths His life into us (Spirit). This "unveiling" (revelation) of Himself is part of the process of giving Himself to us and bringing Himself into Him. This unity is called theosis, a Greek term translated as "divinization" in the West. "God became us in Jesus, so that in Jesus we can become God." The great theologians have taught this for ages. It is the mystery of the human soul and spirit that we contain the divine, it is the mystery of the divine that the Eternal, Holy and Perfect God can empty Himself and squeeze Himself into time and place with all its limitations.
Union is God's first desire. The Christian must keep that in mind. Jesus did not come simply to save us from our sins. Truly He does forgive and save us, but that is secondary. First He comes to take us to Himself. Sin and death (which we received through no fault of our own from our ancestors, but which we embrace and increase--through our own fault--and pass on to others) were not the original state of things. Jesus comes to make us one, but now that unity entails an additional step. Now, God must deal not only with our humanity, but also with our fallen humanity. The divine-human gap (Eternal Perfection and Limited Matter) has always been a real gap. God has always had to bridge it by Word/Son and Holy Spirit/Breath. Now as the bridge is built, the world in which Word and Spirit are at work is darkened and wounded, touched by evil and subject to corruption and decay. The growth process has been thwarted and even the best of us wanders astray. We hurt and suffer and die. We also hurt, damage and kill others. It is not always intentional, it is sometimes what we do not want. We hurt even those whom we love, sometimes hurting them the most. Our homes are often a battle ground of constant conflict. The person whom we should feel most safe with is often the one inflicting the most damage. Things are broken, sick and not as they were intended to be. So the incarnation, God's way of incorporating us into Himself, now does double duty, as the Messiah must deal with sin and death. Forgiveness, reconciliation, healing are now added to Messiah's work of unification (and the Spirit's work of sanctification).
The Word Incarnate plunged into this real world. He was born and grew up, He was threatened and chased out of His own place. He was rejected and abused by the ones He created and loved. In Him the suffering of us all was embraced. In Him, the forgiveness for which we hunger was manifest. In this season of waiting, we look to the day a new born baby will be declared Savior, Messiah and King. A few months hence, in April, that same Savior Messiah King will be tortured and then hung upon a cross. Before He will die, He says "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." He meets us first in our sin and evil and forgives is. Forgiveness, not simply to remove sin, but to provide us hope to empower repentance and conversion. Forgiveness which makes it safe to say "I am sorry." It is also the power within us to forgive others. In facing my own brokenness, I can discern the same in others, with compassion and kindness.
So I am sorry for all I have done and I ask others to release me from the debt and burden. As the Lord has forgiven me, I forgive others. I remember that Jesus said often, that we must forgive others so that in forgiving the power of abundant mercy can be at work in us all.
But sin is not the main thing. It is not the sole purpose of Incarnation. Life is. Love life, indwelling of the Word and Spirit life. Divinized human life. God made us for unity. Focus on becoming one with God. Or, better, focusing on letting God make you one with Him.
It is why you are here. It is your intended destiny.
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