Thursday, April 12, 2012

God Doesn't Say Oops!

God doesn’t say oops… He doesn’t make mistakes. While many may say they understand and agree with the premise of this statement, most do not live as though they do. It’s as if we believe He is perfect in everything He does or did with the noticeable exception of how He created us! When it comes to us, many behave as if God said oops or made a mistake somehow, even if they do not intend to do so or consciously decide to think or act in such a way. Before getting too far into this, I will try to build the case that God doesn’t make mistakes.

God is said to be sovereign, meaning His rule and authority is unquestionable. If we believe this is the case, doesn’t it make sense that God could not make a mistake or say oops since whatever He decided to do or create would be unquestionably right? God is said to be omnipotent, meaning all powerful. If we believe this is the case, doesn’t it make sense that if God did somehow make a mistake or say oops He would correct it and thus eliminate the mistake? God is said to be omniscient, meaning all knowing. If we believe this is the case, doesn’t it make sense that if God did somehow make a mistake or say oops, He would know it before it was created and correct it before it was created and thus eliminate the mistake?

In Psalms 139:14 David recognizes that he is fearfully and wonderfully made and that he is the marvelous result of God’s handiwork. David comes to this understanding about himself in spite of his many failures, shortcomings, physical limitations and blemishes. Everything that God created, including humanity, He said was good or very good. (Genesis chapters 1 & 2) He did not rest from His creative efforts until all that He created lived up to His exacting standards and defined specifications. Simply put God doesn’t make mistakes and He didn’t say oops after He created us!

Recognizing that we are just what God had in mind when He allowed us to be conceived should be empowering to us! It should position us mentally, emotionally and Spiritually to achieve all that we were created to achieve, without excuse or apology. One of my favorite versus of scripture is found in Jeremiah 29:11 where God reassures Jeremiah that his life was on purpose and with an intended end.

“For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (KJV)

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)

Because we experience hardship in our lives and even fail from time to time, does not diminish in any way the thoughts that God has for our lives, nor does it have to alter our expected ends! God was aware of every misstep we were going to take before we were formed in our Mothers belly. Yet, He still chose to give each of our lives value, purpose and meaning.

So with this understanding, we should stop making excuses for why we are not achieving and excelling in life. We have everything we need to accomplish the great things we were created to accomplish. My High School basketball coach Harvey Kitani had a saying that used to make us all laugh at the time, but now I get it! He would say “If you’re going to sit on the toilet, do something! Don’t just sit there and blow farts all day!” Of course you can see why we laughed uncontrollably as a group of inner city 16 – 18 year olds. But now, I get it. Do something with your life and the time you’ve been given, don’t sit around making noise, creating excuses, but in the end not really doing anything.

Look, some of us don’t have the greatest set of circumstances surrounding our nativity. There are many of us who were conceived in less than desirable conditions. I’m not just talking about natural conditions and surroundings. Some of us are the products of rape, fornication, adultery, etc. Many of these individuals carry around the stigma and shame of their conception circumstances and are often too embarrassed to speak openly or share with others their family history for this reason.

Truthfully, it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are surrounding your conception, who your mother and father are or even if you know them! What does matter is that God knew the circumstances surrounding your conception and still declared of you that your life was on purpose and going to serve a purpose. It was not a mistake that you were conceived, no matter what your parents or other may have told you… God never told you that!

Who told you that you were naked? God never told you that, just as He never told Adam and Eve they were naked in the garden. God doesn’t see us the same way others may see us. Others see us and declare we are naked or a mistake. God sees the same thing and does not see nakedness or a mistake, He sees the beauty in what He created…and so should we!

So what’s the moral of this story? God doesn’t make mistakes… He didn’t say oops when He created you…so do something meaningful and productive with your life. Go out and achieve your goals and dreams and fulfill the purpose God had in mind before you were a twinkle in your daddy’s eye!

One more point I’d like to make before wrapping up this blog post…since God doesn’t make mistakes or say oops when He creates us, we need to stop making changes to what God created. How do you improve upon something that is already just the way it should be? You can’t! The moment you start messing with it is the moment you start messing it up.

I believe we were fashioned to look just the way God wants us to look. I am a strong advocate of keeping things pretty natural. I’m not a big fan of things artificial or altering natural things, especially when it comes to our bodies. Every time we make modifications or incorporate artificial things to our bodies, we are in essence telling God “I don’t like what you created, so I’m going to change it into something I like”. Or “What you made wasn’t good enough, so I’m going to fix it and make it better”.

I know for some, we probably have never looked at it quite this way, but that is essentially what we are doing and it’s an insult to God. Let me give you an example. I am a bit of a steak snob…yes, I’ll admit it…I love a well prepared steak, and only order steak from the best restaurants or cook them myself at home. When I go to a steak restaurant, I order my steak, usually a USDA Prime Rib Eye cooked Medium +. Once the steak hits my table, I will eat it as it is served, because that was the way the Chef intended for it to be consumed. If I were to add anything to the steak, I am saying to the Chef “You did not prepare it to my liking” or “The way you prepared my steak is not very good”.

The Chef started out with the very best cut of steak available. Seasoned it the way they thought would bring out the best flavors of the steak. Cooked it to perfection and then served it to their guests for their enjoyment. Add extra salt…ruined it! Add steak sauce…God forbid! Anything you do to the steak after it has been served to you changes it from what the Chefs original intent was. Now, don’t blame the Chef if the steak is nasty after everything you did to it after it was brought to you! That was your doings, not the Chefs!

I hope you can see the parallel in this example. God started out with the very best He could get His hands on…YOU! Seasoned you through all of your life’s experiences. Cooked you to perfection by allowing you to go through just enough for just the right amount of time… not too long so that you would become tough or too little where you would be overly sensitive and raw. God is a master Chef and knows exactly how to prepare our lives and to present us faultless before His presence with exceeding joy! (Jude 24) All we have to do is leave it alone and not mess up what God is creating. No need to add or take away from our bodies, alter or modify what God has blessed us to have, etc.

We should do what we can to take care of our bodies, showing an appropriate level of respect and appreciation for Gods handiwork. Imagine having a fine, rare and expensive piece of art that you have just laying around in the garage getting dusty and damaged. That doesn’t show an appropriate level of respect for the work of art nor for the artist that created it. Not to mention the damage being done to something that should be preserved and cared for.

This is how we should look at our bodies. They are fine, rare and precious gems that should be preserved and cared for. The Bible puts it this way:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
I Corinthians 6:19 – 20 (NIV)

We honor God with our bodies by taking care of them. Eat right, exercise; keep yourselves clean and well groomed. Don’t subject your bodies to things that will do them harm. Drugs, excessive alcohol, violence are all examples of things we should look to protect our bodies from.

We were created in the image of God; can you think of a better image to be modeled after? We show God that we respect the image He created for us by not tampering with that image or trying to put on a different image or face. If someone can look at you and readily tell something about you or on you is not natural, you should rethink if that is the image God intended for you. If God wanted you to have blue, green, hazel, red or whatever color eyes, that’s what He would have allowed you to be born with. I know some may think this is old school. I just believe we should respect what God created.

So, where do we go from here? No need to dwell on the past and what you did to your body in the past… that ship has sailed. All you can do is move forward from here and determine to not allow yourself to be subject to those things any longer and commit to taking care of the body God gave you. Remember, God doesn’t make mistakes, He doesn’t say oops… and He didn’t make a mistake with YOU or say oops when He created YOU to be who and what you are. Live free, without the pressure to have to live up to a false image imposed upon you by friends, family and society. Be the YOU, God had in mind for YOU when He said of YOU I know the thoughts that I think towards YOU… God didn't say oops with YOU!