Zooming In

Google Earth

I still haven't learned how to use Google Earth properly, but I've enough experience to be able to zoom way out and zoom way in, something that could keep me entertained for hours. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that little yellow man get out of the corner and walk around on street view.

And that, oddly enough, leads me to the subject of regrets. Just bear with me, for it's the way my mind works. I remember that when I was younger, I actually perused my past and told myself that I had absolutely no regrets. Right. I must have been delusional. I'm attributing it to the naivete of youth. I think it was because I could Zoom Out and be in the company of many others like myself, feel the security of standing or sinking with them, and could always find someone among my peers who was worse than I was. Or at least I thought so.

We all have sins, big and bigger, in our past (and present), but as long as we stay Zoomed Out, looking at our sin in contrast with that of those around us, we might delude ourselves into thinking that we're okay, that we have nothing to regret, that we're doing just fine, thank you!

But then one day... 

I Zoomed In. I Zoomed In so far that all others - all my smug co-sinners - fell into the background, far far into the background, and suddenly it was just me, standing all alone before a holy God. 

And that's a very different perspective. 

A God who knows my every thought. A God who knows my selfish motives. A God who says that hate is no less than murder, lust no less than adultery. A God who created a perfect world so that I could walk with Him and delight in Him. 

But I didn't. I found my delight in just about anything BUT God.  

So there I was, just Him and me. And suddenly, this person who foolishly thought she had no regrets could think of nothing but regrets.

It was then I knew that I needed peace with this God who made and owns the Universe, this God of justice, this God whose laws I'd broken, this God I suddenly wanted more than anything to know, to walk with and delight in.

I learned a lot from Zooming In.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin, (that bloody death on the Cross that many don't like to talk about anymore) to bring us into fellowship with God, to clothe us with His righteousness, so that we, undeserving as we are, can stand righteous before God, rather than condemned.



II Corinthians 5:21 God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.



Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

My trust is in Christ alone, not in what I do or don't do, for I'm always going to find myself doing things I'll later regret. But now, I can Zoom In and delight in spending time with God, my Father. He loves me, He cares for me, He is no longer my judge. Now I am safe and happy. I have peace. I have joy, for Jesus is my righteousness, my Redeemer, my Savior, my King.