One hot summer day, some friends of mine were waiting on a jetty for a bay island ferry. The usual group of day-trippers hung over the rails of the jetty, gazing dreamily into the water below.
Suddenly a boy looking for something to do turned on a freshwater tap. As the water gushed noisily into the sea below, a little girl, eyes wide with amazement, exclaimed: “So that’s how they fill the ocean!”
Most of us like to know how things work. Sometimes, like the little girl, we come up with funny explanations. Take the Theory of Evolution, for example. It’s one man’s loopy idea of how we all got here. The funny thing is that a lot of people have fallen for it.
In fact, you could say that evolution has made a monkey out of mankind. For my part, I believe in evolution in reverse, because the Bible clearly teaches that the first man walked fully upright. Sin was unknown to him. He could walk and talk with God, his Creator.
But through temptation, that man lost his relationship with God. Under condemnation, his head slumped. Under the weight of sin, his shoulders sagged. He looked down rather than up. Evolution in reverse had begun.
Now, I know that some people won’t accept this. They’d rather think that mankind is headed in the other direction – from monkeyhood to manhood. But where’s the proof? As I look around, I see that man’s primitive instincts are stronger than ever. Swinger’s clubs are a well-advertised fact. It’s a big thing to know your family tree. And in the fashion world, everyone apes someone else.
By God’s grace I’m going in the other direction. Condemnation no longer troubles me. Jesus took care of that by lifting the burden of sin off my shoulders, so I’m able to walk upright. Along with every other Christian, I’m a child of God. I’ve got my feet firmly planted on the ground, and there’s no way that anyone is going to make a monkey out of me!
The person who is a Christian is a new creation; old things have passed away, and – look! – everything is new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)