Category — faith

I was reading Genesis 3 yesterday as part of my YouVersion reading plan, and it has kept knocking around in my head since then.

You can take a look at the passage here

This is the biblical account of the very first sin to enter the world. The original. Numero uno.

Eve has been created, and has been told the few rules of paradise. It would seem that she has been left to wander as she wills, and she found herself in conversation with the crafty serpent.

This crafty serpent decides to stretch the truth just a teeny tiny bit – most of what he says is true, but not all of it. Yes, eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will open her eyes and give her wisdom – it will make her like God in that way. She will know and understand the difference between good and evil. And no, she did not “die” that day in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense, she did. And physically, her days just got a number put on them. Her body began to decay and every breath brought her closer to death.

What has been knocking around though comes after that part. She takes the fruit, shows it to Adam and they eat it together.

And their eyes were opened. Sin entered into Paradise.

What is the very first thing they do? They hid.

First they hid their nakedness with fig leaves. Then they hid themselves from God.

That’s the thing with sin. It creates division. It separates us from God. It causes us to look upon ourselves and feel that we need to hide ourselves away because we aren’t pure and spotless anymore. It makes us turn away from God because He is pure and spotless. He is Holy.
Then what happened?

The blame game starts. They were caught in their sin. Once God called them out of hiding & began to repair the rift in the relationship they start passing the blame. Avoiding responsibility.

Genesis 3:11-13
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Adam passes the blame to Eve, and she passes it on to the crafty serpent. At least the serpent didn’t pass it along too. But no matter how far they passed it along, all they did was make the number of people who would be punished larger.

Because sin must be dealt with, and the consequences must be faced.

The serpent was cursed to slither on its belly & eat dust all of its days. It would no longer find a sympathetic ear in the woman, and it was cursed to have its head crushed.

The woman was cursed with pain in childbirth – one could assume she was cursed with monthly reminders of that pain as well. She was also told that she would live in submission for the rest of her days – but not like it.

Adam was cursed with toil and hard labor. No longer would everything he put his hand to be easy, he now had to work hard for everything he got. He had to fight against weeds and thorns to get the food to feed his family until the day he died.

Oh yes, death was now a reality for them, but not just their death.

Verse 21 says “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

A sacrifice had to be made to atone for the sin. Something had to die so that they could go on with their lives.

They found themselves kicked out of paradise, now with knowledge of evil, and faced with lives of pain and hard labor.

Thankfully they still had God in their lives. And thankfully God also provided the ultimate sacrifice for us – the Lamb has been slain to take away our sin and bring us back into relationship with God. We are clothed in His righteousness so that when God looks upon us He see’s Jesus – a pure and spotless life lived for Him.

When sin separates us from God, we need to walk into the light, not hide from Him. He longs to bring us back into relationship with Him. If He didn’t, Jesus would never have been born a Man, would never have lived a human life, and would have been spared the humiliating torture of the cross.

But He loves us. He created us to be in relationship with Him. And He gave us free will so that we could choose to show Him our love and give Him our worship.

When we find ourselves going through trials, we often have the question “Why Me?” going through our heads. We often focus on ourselves and our circumstances. We often adopt a “victim mentality” as our viewpoint.

But this in not where God calls us to look.

God calls us to fix our eyes on Him, not on our circumstances. He calls us to cling to Him, not our ‘stuff’.

Carlos Whittaker has a song on his Ragamuffin Soul album called We Will Worship You that sets this idea to music. He took the chorus lyrics from a prayer… a prayer from the Book of Puritan Prayers. But it’s still so very applicable (if not more so) today than when it was first penned.

Here are the lyrics to We Will Worship You:

We fix our eyes on You, You are God alone
We fix our eyes on You, You’re our only hope
For all we have to lose is our very souls

Hallelujah hallelujah
Hallelujah hallelujah

© 2009 Carlos Whittaker | Jason Ingram

I urge you to really read those words and really, truly think about them. When we fix our eyes on our circumstances, on those around us, or on the ‘stuff’ in out lives that bring us comfort it means that we are taking our eyes off of Jesus. When we take our eyes off  of Jesus, we begin to sink in the waves of the storm that surrounds us.

However, when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can do anything. We can walk through any storm. We can thrive and live a life of abundance.

What comforts are taking your focus? What circumstances are distracting you from God? What joys are in your life that aren’t from God? Are you always striving for more ‘stuff’ to satisfy your cravings? Or are you satisfied with God – His unfailing love, His grace, His holiness?

This is the prayer of my heart today – that I would be satisfied that God is enough. That I will boldly walk into unfamiliar territory with my eyes and my heart firmly fixed on God and His plan for me.

That through it all I will choose to worship God rather than me. That I would focus on God instead of my circumstances. That the joys in my life will come from His hand and with His blessing. That He would be enough.

It just keeps coming back to perspective.

**This may anger some. These are just some thoughts that I am having today, some questions that have been brought up in my own mind. I apologize if I offend anyone… but if I cause you to think about things, then it will be worth it.**

As I sit here today, I find myself unsure how I feel. The news of the death of a very infamous man was released yesterday, May 1, 2011, in a bit of a replication of the death of an infamous figure released decades ago on May 1, 1945.

Osama bin Laden is dead.

He was apparently killed by a US bomb somewhere around a week ago. Most of America is congratulating themselves that “We Got Him!” and a man that led thousands of terrorists to kill thousands of innocents has been removed from the picture.

On the side of Justice, I can agree that this should feel like a good thing. I admit to having a few moments of relief that the man that thought up the bombings on 9/11 is no longer able to plot against us.

But I also mourn the loss of a human life. No, I mourn the jubulation that so many people feel over the loss of a human life.

And then I wonder why it is that ONE DEATH can mean so very much, while unborn children are slaughtered daily, children are sold or taken into slavery and raped and abused daily and soldiers are killed in war… but “America” doesn’t seem to care.

Yes, this man led others to senselessly murder thousands in a single day, and yes, we should be relieved that he is gone… but I assure you that there are others ready & willing to take his place. Yes, we should care that he has been removed, but what about the other invisible deaths and tragedies that surround us daily?

I was at a youth girls get-together last night when the news came out, and there were mixed responses. One person wasn’t sure who he was. Most were quite joyful that he was dead. But one of the girls looked at me and said what I was feeling inside. She said “I’m glad that he’s gone, but I can’t help mourn the loss of a life. He won’t be going to heaven unless he had a drastic conversion experience. He will never know God!”

Osama bin Laden showed us what religious fanatacism looks like. He showed us what it looks like to have a passion about your beliefs, how to have a belief strong enough that you are willing to die for it.

As Christians, we could learn a thing or two from Islam. We could learn how to not be complacent. We could learn to take a stand for what we claim to believe in.

Let me say right now that I am NOT saying we need to go around killing people in the name of God! The bible tells about a God that is LOVE. He said that His people would be known by their love. I serve a God of forgiveness and love and justice and mercy and gracy – a God that is holy, that cannot tolerate sin. A God that sacrificed His own Son – all to spare us from death and eternal seperation from Him.

What woujld this country – this world! – look like if Christians set out to love the world around us with as much passion and religious fervor as the radical muslims that followed bin Laden?

What if we had redical love for the world around us? What if we celebrated each person who died to themselves and gave their heart over to Jesus with the same dancing in the streets and exultation that we are currently celebrating the death of one man?

Passion is very attractive. Passion draws humanity like a flame draws moths – we can’t resist it.

How can we, as followers of the One True God, have passion for a God that doesn’t demand our worship and adoration? How can we have a greater fervor for a God that loved us into existence?

So yes, I am thankful that a mind that contemplated evil upon my country will no longer contemplate that evil against us. But I also wonder if we can learn something from him. And I am sad that he crossed over to something so different than he expected to. I am sad that he never knew God.

If I were to choose one word that defined my life in 2010, it would be FORGIVENESS.  Over and over again God asked me to forgive as I have been forgiven – no easy task!  To forgive my husband, to forgive those who came with false accusations, to forgive family members who said hurtful things, to forgive friends when they did something to frustrate me – and to then ask to be forgiven when I blew it.

2010 was a year of huge change for me, although much of it was so incremental that I didn’t even notice how much I had changed until I started looking back at where I was when the year started.

I have begun to learn how to forgive.  I am starting to learn how to forgive in the way that God has forgiven each of us, and I have learned how to forgive myself.  To move past the guilt of failure (even if just in my own eyes) and to take the focus of my life off of the bad stuff and put that focus onto God.

So what comes after forgiveness?  What one word is going to define 2011 in my life?  I’m still trying to pin that one down.    God & I have some talking to do before I nail down one word for 2011, but I look forward to it (and kind of dread it!)

I’ve been thinking about Joseph today.

Here is this fine, upstanding, young Jewish man.  He held to the law, he honored the customs of his culture.  He was betrothed to a lovely young woman. He was at the beginning of his life, and was making preparations for the next stage – marriage and hopefully a family soon… but not too soon, right?

He loved Mary.  They were about to be married, and it seems that she loved him deeply in return.  Their life together was just about to start.

But something happened.

Joseph knew that he had honored their vow.  He knew that he had not yet touched her, yet she shows up obviously pregnant after going away for a few months to visit her cousin.

This looked bad – very bad.

While our society doesn’t get upset about pre-marital sex or unwed mothers, in the Jewish culture at that time it was a HUGE deal. According to the law Mary should have been stoned to death… and it didn’t look much better for Joseph that he kept his mouth shut about Jesus not being his.  After all, not denouncing Mary meant that he was equally guilty in the eyes of those around them.

Choosing to listen to the Angel God sent was a major act of courage… and was something that followed him the rest of his life.  Disgrace.  Loss of status.  Decreased income to provide for his family.  He lived on with people always remembering that he “couldn’t keep it in his pants” as it were – even though he did.

Yes, it was hard for Mary – but she KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had never had sex.  Joseph couldn’t truly be 100% sure – he had to go by faith.  An angelic visit is pretty solid, yes, but that could have been a dream.

His life changed completely – and he had to move forward in the faith that he was doing the right thing.

During the Christmas season there is much focus on Mary – as there should be!  But I think Joseph often gets the short end of the stick in this story.

He was called to be a role model for the Son of God.  He was chosen to raise Jesus as his own.  To love Him and teach Him to be a man.  And Joseph had to love Jesus as his own son – not treat Him any worse than he treated his actual sons and daughters.  But also not give him preferential treatment…

That’s a pretty high calling.

It is a calling that he chose, however.  He could have ignored the angel and set Mary aside – after all, by all appearances, she had betrayed him!  He could have chosen not to believe.  Mary could have found herself an un-wed mother in a culture where that was not tolerated.  She could have found herself unable to be wed – after all, who would marry the girl who messed around on her fiance?

But Joseph didn’t take the easy road.  He chose to obey God even though it meant that his life would never be what he had imagined.

He chose to walk forward in faith.  To love Mary even though the child she was carrying was not his.  He chose to take her as his wife even though it was a constant reminder to himself and those around him that it appeared they hadn’t done the right thing.

I believe that he truly loved Mary, that he was able to get past this rough beginning to their marriage and accept her as his wife – the good and the bad.  But it had to have had an impact on their relationship, at least for a while.  Betrayal by the one you love most is a hard thing to get past.  But with God’s help, it is also something that you can get past.  I believe that God honored Joseph’s choice.  I believe that God honored the man that accepted His Son as his own.  And I believe that Joseph loved Jesus as his own son.

And so for these reasons I would like to say the following:

Joseph, thank you for making the right choice.  Thank you for taking Jesus as your own and raising Him as your son.  Thank you for showing Him what it meant to be a man.  Thank you for honoring his mother and loving her as your wife.  Thank you for doing your part in giving Jesus younger brothers and sisters to love.

Thank you for being Jesus’ earthly Daddy.

Yesterday I read a status update by a friend over on Facebook, and commented on it.  This meant that I would get an email of any further comments… and one of them has stuck with me.

It was a comment that I’m sure was made in jest, but I still found it disturbing.

My friend is nervous about doing something new at her church – it involves putting herself out there in the public eye in a way that she has not done in a very long time.  Part of her status was the following joke:

Oh well. They won’t judge. Uh, will they? Hee.

This was not the disturbing part.  No that came with a comment:

They`re church going people of course they`ll judge you!!!LOL

It disturbed me in part because of just how true it is.  But more disturbing is how little I see the church doing anything to change that viewpoint.

God keeps bringing me back to John 13:35 this year – over and over and over again.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We are supposed to be know by our love, but as the comment above shows us, the Church in America today is known more for it’s judgmental, better-than-you attitudes and hipocracy than by our love for our fellow man.

How can we change this?

I believe that this can only be changed one person at a time.  I believe that each of us has a responsibility to show the world that yes, we love God, and no, we aren’t what they expect “Christians” to be like.  We have to show kindness and love.  We have to help out those around us when they need it.  We have to reach out and be the hands and feet of Jesus to a world that so desperately needs Him but has rejected Him because of those who claim to follow Him.

Why?

Because history is filled with horrendous acts done in the name of the church.  Because the world recognizes Christians by something so far from what we are called to be that it will take something radical to change that perception.

And that radical thing is love.  Real, God-given, Christ-centered, honest love.

We have to love, and it starts with you and me.

What are YOU known by?

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. – Psalm 119:105, ESV

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Some days I just need this reminder that God is leading me step by step, and it doesn’t matter that I can’t see the end – or even what’s around the bend in the road – because I know that He is in control.

Yes, I know, there are two Word Filled Wednesday posts this week.  But this one goes with Amy Deanne’s verse so much better.

I’ve been reading this Summer… a lot.  The girls have to read at least 30 minutes per day, and I have been reading with them.  I have also been staying up with Eric as he works into the wee hours of the morning, and most often I read then as well.  Needless to say I’ve read quite a few books in the past 2 months.

But something I read tonight in one of these books struck a chord with me, and I thought I’d share it.  It is in response to a question about how a place that the characters are visiting is making them feel – giving them a completeness, a wholeness, a rightness to the world that they have never known.

“There is a love here that is rarely found on earth.  Perhaps in families, certainly between a husband and wife on occasion, but almost never in the world at large.  Love governs everything here.  Everything.  Love and the continually practiced presence of the Most High.

“Yeseph explained it once to me.  He said that the Most High is indeed ever-present with his creation, with us.  But we often lose sight of him – we fall away from him unless we practice his presence.  By that he meant we must keep him with us in our thoughts and deeds, lest we forget.

“For it is not the One who forgets us, but we forget him.  It is how we are made, a defect perhaps, but one that makes belief necessary.  And belief is the Most High’s greatest gift.  So even there he has rescued us.”

“Rescues us from ourselves.  I see.  Is it love that transforms even the common things – the sunrise yonder, for one – into such works of beauty?  Is it love that makes me feel as if all my life until now was a life lived in shadow?”

“Oh, yes!  Love, and the knowledge of the Most High”

“But I know very little of the Most High.  How can it be that I feel as I do?”

“In your heart of hearts you know him.  Durwin used to say that all men were born with the knowledge of the Most High in their hearts.  The trick is to spend more time remembering, and less time forgetting what we already know.”

“From now on I will spend all my time remembering.”

This is an excerpt from “The Sword and the Flame” by Stephen Lawhead.  It’s the third book in the Dragon King Trilogy.

I think that it is quite applicable to our lives as well.

We do often lose sight of God in the busyness of our day-to-day lives.  We do often forget Him as we go along through life.  The trick, it seems, is to spend more time remembering.

How is your memory today?