"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:20-21 NIV)
"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:20-21 ESV)
Truth is sometimes hard to hear, no matter the translation.
Romans 8:20-21 is a great example of that kind of truth that is difficult to absorb, no matter the number of times it is read. Why? Because at the heart of this verse is a truth that few of us really want to hear, which is that this world, was not primarily designed for our personal satisfactions, dreams, ambitions, and relationships.
Instead, we are told by God, that in this world we are destined for frustration, discomfort, and pain, so that in these insurmountable challenges, we will recognize our need for redemption. And after coming face-to-face with our need for deliverance, that we would accept the free gift of grace that God offers, which provides that only path for us to be freed from the shackles of our sin and to live in glory with God forever, and ever.
That also means that in the "now", the reality in which we all live, we are not going to get the story that we feel like we deserve. We are definitely not going to get the story that we have all dreamed. So the easy, reflexive action is to blame God, or disavow any knowledge or allegiance of said God, who would have the audacity to not allow us the live of comfort and ease that we all deserve.
Yet in the darkness of our hopelessness, pain, and fear, God calls to us to move our lives from the temporal to the eternal.
One of the first obstacles for some of us before accepting God's gift, is the stubborn belief that this choice will rob us of our freedom and personal story.
And that is true.
To accept the gift of redemption from our sins also requires a change in who now rules our lives. We are no longer the sole author of our own stories, we hand over that authority to the One who actually created our soul, who wants the very best for us, and has an eternal plan for our pathway to eternal fellowship with Him.
Because we have to remember the price that He paid for our lives cost Him everything. He is not immune to our pain, our desperate cries for help, He is not apathetic to our situations, He is not devoid of sadness because of the troubles, caused and uncaused that we all face. He is our Father and His love for us surpasses all that we can imagine. He is also not oblivious to the fact that our story is tainted by sin, because, and please don't miss this point, Jesus story is now linked forever with the pain of our sins. He was crucified in the physical realm of this creation, but His punishment far exceeded the bodily pain that He suffered on the cross. He was invaded by our sins, cut off from fellowship from His Father and The Holy Spirit, and was judged and punished for our rebellion.
His plans for us did not include the pain of choosing disobedience in the Garden. His dreams for His children did not include the many, many ways that we have devised to harm each other and His creation. His plans did not include the fall of one-third of His angels, who chose to attempt a coup, to overthrow the One who created them!
None of this was God's perfect plan.
But once His creation was cursed, destroyed by our rebellious free will, He immediately designed a new plan, a plan to free those enslaved by their own disobedience. A plan to included allowing all Creation to discover the futility of choosing any other options but Him. He laid bare the narrow pathway to freedom, provided and paid for by His Son, Jesus.
You see, the dreams and ambitions that we possess are not bad, as long as they mirror God's desires for our life. But they are also greatly influenced by the environment in which we attempt to prosper, sometimes discarding the eternal, embracing the temporal, and at that point we lose the chance to live our lives fully in the now, and in the world to come.
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" - Mark 8:36 (KJV)
