I believe that mankind is thoroughly and fatally flawed. I believe that when we were created by God we were created in perfection to enjoy and worship Him. We then chose to make ourselves our gods––pursue our own wants and desires––and this sin created a permanent division between us and God, a division that was (and still is) passed down to all mankind and would last forever. A division that would––because God is the source of life––destroy us both individually and collectively.

But God couldn’t leave it at this.

God is enamored with us. We’re the height of His creation and His delight and love for us consumes Him.  So He sent Jesus, a part of Himself––He was God as well––to live among us. God walked among us, in the person of a man named Jesus, in an effort to woo us back to Himself. But we weren’t interested. We rejected and killed Jesus. But God had planned that if we killed Jesus He would allow Jesus’ death––because Jesus hadn’t sinned as we had––to count as our eternal death in sin. God sacrificed Jesus, and raised Him from the dead, to make a way to get us back in relationship with Him––a marvelous exchange!

Because God did all this, all we have to do is believe in Jesus, who He was and what He did. We then, because of our belief, have a relationship with God once again. Life once again has meaning and purpose as we live in worship and relationship with God––our Creator, Savior, and Sustainer.