Unwrapped

 Unwrapped

 

It seemed
To me
That after Adam
And Eve
Took the fruit
From the Tree
The gift
Of heartfelt ease
Was boxed up
And locked with keys
As God surveyed
The present
Of his presence
And all the ensuing
Aftermath
He sadly smiled
And said
'It's a wrap'.

Maybe, then, for later.

And through the following
wayward ages
God
At times
In various stages
Alluded to the long forgotten gift
Described it, in hope
That hope of it
Would cause us to seek,
To heal the rift,

But each time
It was put before us
We sadly chose
To ignore trust
And left
The gift
Unopened
And,
Were it for us
that would be hopes end,

But at the advent
Of the promised gift
God showed us
what
was hidden in clenched fist,
We thought it there
To fight,
We knew not love aright

That this hand,
'The holy arm
Of God laid bare'
Was God
Unwrapped
For us
To share
In the mercy of his stand
The fist became
Open hand
As gently
At first
It tugged on beards
And kneaded Mothers breast
And later pinned
To scaffold wood
Where it came
To surrender’s rest

This was
the gift
Unwrapped
The back
Of sin
And law
was snapped
And love
laid bare
For all
To see,
The boundless love
The humility,

The gift was God, himself
Unwrapped
And taken down,
From Eden's shelf,

Reflection: The Present of His Presence

 

What was lost in Eden, was more than innocence. In the beginning He walked and talked with us, in the garden. We look at the fallout of the fall and we see sin, injustice, disease and death as it’s result. But these are the symptoms of what was lost. Those things came because of our loss of relationship with God. They are the consequence.

The restoration of all things will reverse these consequences. Yes, in heaven we will have no more sickness, no more pain, no more sorrow and no more dying, but these are not the things (in themselves) to be longed for. These things will follow as a result of the full restoration of the relationship we lost in Eden. The thing that causes these glorious benefits is our union with our Father God.

If after a divorce and separation, we had reconciled with a partner who had kept the house we used to love so much, and all we were thinking about was that house, we might have to question our motivation for the reconciliation.

The American preacher John Piper is quoted of asking this very important and reflective question:

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—
is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the
friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and
all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties
you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no
human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with
heaven, if Christ were not there? ”

If it is not God himself that is our prize, we will truly miss the mark. The present, was always his presence. At the incarnation Jesus became our Emanuel: God with us.

 

~Scripture~

 

The sun will no more be your light by day,
    nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory.
Your sun will never set again,
    and your moon will wane no more;
the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of sorrow will end.

~Isaiah 60:19-20 (NIV)