The Most Significant Thing

I gave in, and admitted that God was God. -- C. S. Lewis

I was sitting in my boss's office this week when he lobbed another humdinger of a thought my way and with one statement, re-ordered the whole way I think about my faith. Again. He's really good at that (and I respect him for it). Did I mention I work for the Evangelism Pastor at my church? That's one of God's little jokes--the former atheist who vowed never to buy into all that religion stuff (me) now happily works for the guy at church in charge of leading people to Christ. (Be careful what you vow to never do!)

Anyway, we were sitting in my boss's office having a pow-wow about all the things that need to get done this week (my boss is English and every time he says pow-wow in his Cambridge accent, I can't help smiling). Hmmm, maybe from now on in my posts I will refer to him as MEB--my English boss.  Anyhow, MEB noticed my plate is full this week and he wanted to remind me to schedule in some time for rest.  

I immediately countered with a list of what we have to accomplish before Sunday and that's when he lobbed this little humdinger into the middle of my thought process:

"Remember, the most important event in your life already happened. Before you were born, Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Anything else that happened in your life after that or will happen in the future might be significant, but it won't be the most significant thing in your life." --MEB

Oh. Had to chew on that one for a minute. My gut reaction was a tad bit of disappointment. If MEB was right, the most significant event that happened in my life is one I never participated in or got to see with my own eyes. (aka. I had no first-hand knowledge of it, no say in it or any control over it. How revealing that my sinful heart immediately lamented these things!) 

Then something else occurred to me. Up until that moment, I thought the most significant moment in my life was on February 26th, 2011, when I accepted Christ as my Lord & Savior. But in really thinking it through, I realized that was just when I finally acknowledged what God had already done for me.  My conversion wasn't when that life-giving sacrifice had actually been made. 

MEB was right, of course. God already had a plan in place.  He'd figured out millenia ago how He was going to redeem us from sin.  Then, at the appointed time, He put that plan into action and made the ultimate sacrifice, cleansing me of all my sins, mistakes, inadequacies and deficiencies almost 2,000 years before I ever took a breath. He did the same for you too.  Since then, He's been waiting for us to respond.

Knowing that changes things a bit, doesn't it? It makes me joyfully (and unavoidably) aware of who God is and that my life is pointless and small without Him.  It changes how I think I should conduct myself. And it alters my view of what is truly valuable in my day to day existence. Any previous errors in perception have, of course, been mine.(Thanks, MEB, for the reminder!)

So many years ago, God took care of what really mattered. It's still hard to get my head around what that must have cost and how much He loves us to have paid that bill.  In full. Whatever happens from here on may be significant. There will be great life moments and probably some real stinkers too. Whatever circumstances arise, I can rest in knowing the hardest work that will ever be done in my life has already been accomplished.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. --C.S. Lewis