prepared hearts

created to love Him

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
  Genesis 2:7

Did not God create Adam to love Him? Do we not give birth to children, guide them and teach them, love them and nurture them and forever hope after their love? On Sunday we will begin our advent journey in anticipation of our Saviour's birth. But the story begins much earlier than in Bethlehem at the inn. It begins when God breathed his life into Adam. We were created in love and sought after in love and rescued in love and homecoming awaited in love. God has not hidden Himself, even in our sin He calls to us.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Genesis 3:8,9

The path to Advent is laid out for us beginning at the beginning, Genesis. This path leads from the dust of creation to the hay of a manger to the splintered wood of the cross to the cold stone of a tomb. The path laid out a thousand ages ago by a God who never changes, who faithfully desires us, who longs for His creation to love their creator. 

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

John 3:16-17