Let’s step way back and look at the big picture, the overarching narrative of all history. We often summarize it under themes like: creation, the fall, Jesus and the cross, and going to heaven.

This makes our sin central to the story. If we didn’t sin, then Jesus wouldn’t have come to die for our sins. Then there’s just creation and heaven, with no story in between of how God saves us.

This sometimes translates into our personal experience. When we feel far away from God, we can want to sin just so we can get forgiven again and connect with our Savior.

But what if there was stink in the original poo?

God created the world, and then created us to rule it. There was already a city by Genesis chapter 4.

So now humans are in charge, there’s a bunch of people living together in a city, and the poo stinks. We have a problem that’s not about our sin. We need sewer systems.

Extrapolate that out into billions of people sharing the planet with all the plants and animals and we’d have had lots to do. We didn’t need to sin and be saved. We could have just ruled the earth with Jesus, co-reigning with him. Would have been a lot more fun.

And in our personal lives, we don’t need to sin to reconnect with God. Jesus made a way for us to be restored to our original role of reigning with him in his kingdom, even as we wait for the full restoration to come.

The big story is the kingdom of God, and we’re in it.