Saved…

Part 2 – To fulfill our potential     

The good news “gospel of our salvation” is that the plan God put in place “before the creation of the world” was to make us humans “holy and blameless in his sight,” Ephesians 1:4. Imagine this planet, then, with all us humans – politicians, corporate leaders, educators, financiers, carers of children, animals and the environment, etc. – all of us being really good people.  

But that’s exactly the potential God had in mind for us. He made us sovereign rulers of this planet, and equipped us to make it a wonderful place to be. Instead, however, we still fall for the seductive power of evil that “alienates us from God” and makes us “enemies in our minds because of our evil behaviour,” Colossians 1:21. 

So instead of us being on course to fulfilling our potential, we constantly end up “falling short of the glory of God” he’d planned for us, Romans 3:23. Which prompted Paul to ask a rather piercing question in verse 27, because looking at the mess people were causing in his day he asked: “So where, then, is boasting?”  

He’s got a point, because instead of fulfilling our God-given potential to be spreaders of his wisdom, love and creativity all over the planet, with the most incredible results for the whole creation, we’ve been reduced to the “god of this age blinding our minds so we can’t see the light of the gospel,” 2 Corinthians 4:4. So it’s hard even seeing what we humans were created for, let alone fulfilling it.

But we thrash away at life anyway, which is really quite pathetic, because no matter how good, clever, hard working, or well educated we are, or how well we’ve looked after our health, finances, family and community, or how many different ideologies we try, or revolutions we inspire, or new inventions we come up with, we’re still stuck with the same old problems.  

And how frustrating is that, especially after we’ve learnt that the potential of humanity to be good and do good is huge? So what would this world be like if that good in us was given the chance to shine supreme after all? Well, if the “gospel of our salvation” still stands, that is what God has in mind for us. So how is he bringing it about?…(continues tomorrow)