Martha Olawale

“God saw all he had made, and it was perfect.” Genesis 1:31

The questions people wrestle with the most are, “How can God love the world with all the mess in it, and how can He die for unworthy people?” Although our mortal minds can never fathom the depth of God’s love for humanity, we can experience it by accepting the gift of redemption through the death of Christ on the cross. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

How God saw His creation before sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden determined His response to us. We were loved before we knew what love was. On the sixth day, when God looked at the world, He saw perfection, not brokenness. He knew the capabilities of humanity to flourish on Earth and the possibility of all scientific innovations. Genesis 1 details the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and verse 31 says, looking at everything, God saw all He created as good.

Everything on Earth speaks of God’s goodness: the air, land, and waters. He was there before the lands were separated from the seas and the first fruit dropped from a tree branch. When He created the universe, the plants were good, the animals were good, the seas were good, and man and woman were good. If He had seen it differently, his approach to the brokenness might have been different. To God, the world was worth dying for because although humanity made a mess of things, the blood of Jesus speaks better than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24).

How we see things most often determines how we respond to them. If I see people as created in the image of and loved by God, I will respond to them with grace and truth. Grace, letting them know that no one is too far gone from redemption. Truth, letting them know that God is holy and wants us to walk on the path of righteousness.

If I see sin as a product of my brokenness, I’ll respond to it remorsefully because I love my Father. If I see sin as an entitlement, I will ignore the nudge to ask the Holy Spirit to help me. I am training my eyes of understanding to adjust to the lens of God. Even if I can’t see as clearly as looking through the windows of Heaven, I want my mind enlightened by the washing of God’s word so I see and respond to everything as Christ would.