It's Not All About You

Imagine that you have just been given a job with the largest corporation in the world. The CEO is respected and revered almost universally as a fair and decent man. You have received this appointment purely on the basis of your lineage; the boss knew your father and respected him immensely. The boss gives you a company car to drive and sends you out with his instructions to do business.

Imagine the company car you have been given to drive is a 1954 Mercedes Benz SL 300 Gullwing coupe worth upwards of two million dollars. It’s your first car, so you have nothing to compare it with, but after driving a while you realize it is an impressive machine. You begin to go about the work the boss has given you, and you encounter a man named Devlin who has some ideas about how to do your business. Devlin convinces you to veer off into his agenda, leaving behind the instructions given by your boss. The next thing you know, Devlin has tricked you out of your Mercedes and is driving it around as if it were his.

When you next meet with your boss for an update, He asks where the Mercedes has gone. You tell him that a trickster named Devlin has essentially stolen it from you, or more correctly, from him. The boss wants to know how this came about, and you tell him that Devlin tricked you into giving him the car. The boss asks what you were doing with Devlin in the first place, and you have no real excuse except to say that you were trying out Devlin’s business plans instead of your boss’s. You can tell by the boss’s face that he is greatly disappointed in you, and he tells you immediately that because of what you have done you are to be fired. He tells you that you must leave his employ and go find work elsewhere.

Soon after you start looking for work, Devlin offers you a job. You ask about a company car, and he says he will sell you one on credit and take the payments out of your wages. When you see the car, you are shocked. Instead of the pristine Mercedes 300 SL your previous boss gave you to drive, Devlin is offering you a rusty Model T touring car with a ragged top, bent fenders and bald tires. You ask how you are supposed to work with that, and Devlin tells you to make the best of it as he wheels away in the Mercedes.

Meanwhile, the boss has been taking steps to get his Mercedes back because it meant the world to him. Although He badly wants the car back, he also wants you to come to your senses and come back to work for him. The boss sends his son to retrieve the Mercedes, knowing that it will be dangerous to confront Devlin. The son follows his father’s plan and legally traps Devlin and forces him to return the car, but it doesn’t happen without a fight. Unfortunately, the son is mortally wounded. To everyone’s great surprise, the father is able to get his son to a hospital where talented surgeons are able to revive him miraculously.

At this point, the boss offers you your job back if you will admit to having wronged him by following Devlin’s schemes, and if you promise to do what he asks in the future. Your new job includes a nice car, though certainly not on the level of a classic Mercedes. The boss tells you that if you work hard and stay true to his plans, you will advance in your career and eventually be transferred to the home office where the Mercedes will again be yours to drive. Devlin is still trying to get you to work for him, promising better things than before, but you are leery since he tricked you once before. The decision is now yours.

This little allegory is intended to show that after Adam surrendered his God-given vice-regency of earth to the Devil, God’s purpose was to get His creation back. The entire creation does worship God, even now as the Psalms attest. However, there is a dark cloud over everything that restricts the worship from its fullest measure of glory according to Paul in Romans eight. The Bible story, the story of redemption is about God getting His creation back to its full and free relationship with Him. Of course, humans, as the crown of creation are foremost in His mind, but we have to realize that God is going to get His way whether we go along or don’t. God paid the redemption price, and because He is all-powerful and all-knowing the outcome is not in doubt. The only question is whether we will jump on the bandwagon, as it were, and join the rest of creation in triumphant return.

Redemption is about God getting back what is rightfully His as creator. Redemption is not primarily about you; it is about a cosmic battle between forces that operate at a level far above your pay grade. Granted, we play a role demonstrating God’s grace to His heavenly host, but we are the pawns, not the kings or even bishops in the cosmic chess match.* As Paul says to the Ephesians, we can take part in the battle if we choose. We have also been offered the chance to take part in the victory celebration when the battle is finally over. In that final glorious day, we will take all our righteous accomplishments, those things the Bible symbolizes as crowns, and gladly place them at the foot of the throne of God. At that moment, we will grasp the full meaning of redemption.

If you ever wanted to get involved in something bigger than yourself, this is your best chance.

* I know we are called kings and priests, but those roles are among our human fellows. Any earthly role we might play is far below the level at which God and His heavenly host operate.