"Techno" the Robot Dog

My five year old received a robot dog on Christmas Eve. It's really pretty cute. A hard plastic, silver puppy. It makes lots of noise but it is has an "off" switch (which makes it cuter still). My husband made the comment that it was as close as he was going to get to having a dog.

On a side note, Christmas morning, the kids were going to get the news that we were in fact going to get them a puppy. A real puppy. Ironically, the real puppy we gave them turned out to be, well, not real. Did you know dogs can have false pregnancies? Well, they can.

Back to my thoughts about the robot dog.

I was thinking the other day about God and why He created us, knowing that we would invite sin into His paradise, break His heart, evoke His wrath, and need saving by the blood of His only Son.
It reminded me of "Techno", the robot dog. Garrett wanted that robot dog. Once he had it he still wanted a real dog. Why?

Why wasn't "Techno" enough? He was cute. He was fun. He didn't pee on the floor. He didn't bark in the middle of the night...well, once but like I said, he does have that "off" switch.

Why would you want a real dog? They make messes. They make noise. They cost a lot more. They can bite you. And have you felt the pain of losing a dog? Ouch.

What's the appeal? A relationship. It's having a dog that chooses you. Chooses to come to you. Chooses to do all those silly tricks just to please you. Chooses to snuggle under your arm on the couch. There just is no relationship with a dog that only does what it's been programmed to do.

If God had created us so that we wouldn't sin, He would have created robots. We would have done everything He wanted us to do. Just not by our choosing. Instead, He created us to have a relationship with Him. He gave us a free will so that we can choose Him.

He created man in His image (Genesis 1:27). He blessed him and met all his needs, from food to eat (Genesis 2:9) to a helper so man would not be lonely (Genesis 2:18). And He had a relationship with them. Genesis 3:8 says that "the man and his wife heard the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.." They only heard Him but they knew what they were hearing. Makes me think that it was a sound they were familiar with - God walking in the garden.

And yes, He knew that we would invite sin into the world and make a mess of His creation. But instead of just not creating us at all, He made a way for us to come back to a relationship with Him.

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us."

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

God could have spared us from the pain of a sinful world by not creating us in the first place. But He choose to create us. To love us and be loved by us. He knew that He would make a way for us to come back to Him and that the temporary suffering of this fallen world will be worth enduring for the promise of eternity with Him.