Every story is a journey - and the context of it depends on where you begin to understand it. God's great narrative of love and our relationship with our Creator begins far before our disobedience, sin, and need for restoration. It actually begins in the heart of our Creator, from eternity to eternity. Even before creation, He already had a plan and this included creation, falling, redemption and restoration.
In this great narrative, our relationship with God, each other, and the rest of the creation was perfect. We can see that in the beginning, holistic communal living in its ultimate, full expression was harmonious.
After the fall, everything changed. Harmony was destroyed and chaos became a part of everyday life. All of these relationships once perfect, were broken and became imperfect.
"The effects of the fall are manifested in the economic, social, religious, and political systems that humans have created throughout history" (Corbett). Therefore, the consequences of the damaged relationships has brought discord, dislike, and imbalance to the whole creation that we are a part of. From that moment on, redemption and restoration was needed.
Thankfully, these broken relationships were promised to be harmonized and restored again in the future. It is the hope that Easter brings, the assurance of complete restoration.
Meanwhile, we serve and work to bring restoration everyday. That is the purpose of Developing Our World. By faith, we proclaim and demonstrate God's love to every human being and creation, which means to put holistic community development into action. Join us to restore this world!
