|
Genesis 3:10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." Genesis 3:1-7  As many times as I have read the account of the fall of Adam and Eve, I have never realized how little Adam was involved in the events that took place.
Adam stood by while his wife was rewording what God had said despite his knowledge that what she said was wrong. He made no attempt to intervene while the serpent was deceiving Eve. He watched while Eve took the forbidden fruit and ate it. He went right along with Eve in doing what God had forbidden. He helped try to cover up their sin. He and Eve tried to hide from God the new knowledge they had acquired. When we see others falling into sin and do nothing to stop the landslide of sin entering the life of those we love, we follow the example of Adam and don't get involved. We have all the knowledge of the consequences of sin and yet we don't want to 'interfere'. God dealt harshly with Adam and Eve for their bad choices and with the serpent for leading them astray. The serpent offered the forbidden fruit, but Adam and Eve and you and I are guilty of choosing to take a bite of the temptation placed before us. Whether it is the wrong diet, overspending, stealing things from work, cheating on taxes, not paying for what we have purchased, we will pay in the long run. I am very glad Christ chose to get involved and show us the right path. He chose to pay for our bad choices. He chose to spend His earthly life showing us a better way. When we see others falling into bad choices, we must offer gently and lovingly a better way. If we choose to 'not get involved', we will also be judged harshly. If we choose to whisper to others of someone's poor choices, our sin of gossip only adds to the price we will pay. Ask the Lord to open our eyes so we can see others through His eyes. He can help us to love them into healing and restoration just as He loved us back into His kingdom when we fell from grace. Jesus is, was and will be our righteousness and our redeemer. He will lead us into confession, repentance and our redemption.
0 Comments
Luke 5:16 but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.  Often Jesus would walk away from the intense pressures of His earthly life. He would seek a place of quiet and peace to restore His energy and spiritual batteries. On an average day, He would be faced with the hostilities from the religious leaders. He would deal with followers that wanted fed or healed or forgiven. His chosen twelve gave Him constant frustration. He told them they were slow-witted, faithless and stubborn. No one offered Him rest or encouragement.
On the night before Jesus selected His twelve Apostles (Luke 6:12), He spent the night in prayer. He was communing with His Father and the Holy Spirit. He knew where His support system is. He knew to go to the Ones that had His best interests at heart. Jesus sought Them for encouragement. He already knew who would betray Him. He knew that Peter would deny Him and all of them would desert Him. But He also knew that these were the men that would take His Word to all the world. Jesus had a habit that strengthened Him. We would be wise to follow His example. He would step away from the pressures of His ministry and get the regeneration that He so deeply needed. He did not see it as 'deserting' His ministry, instead, He required that time away. A 'down time' would prepare Him for the next time of pressures and aggression of the Pharisees. During an average day, we are under pressure to go here, do this, get this done. We have a schedule that would slow down the best. When we are trying to nurture our children, we don't always do what is best for ourselves while we are doing so much for them. One of the things that service people are taught is that if you don't take care of yourself first, you won't be able to help others. Stewardesses will tell passengers to first put on an oxygen mask before helping others. If you pass out from oxygen deprivation, you can't save others. Taking time away is a good way to reconnect with the Lord. Having a time apart to study His word and commune with Him gives us a time to refocus on the real priorities and set aside those things that distract us. The Lord desires that time apart with us. He wants us to thrive in His love. We can't do that if we don't step away and enjoy 'down time' with Him. John 1:35-39a The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" "Come", He replied, "and you will see."  When I first came to Christ, I was reassured that I needed only confess my sinfulness and accept Jesus as my Savior. After a short time, I began to receive a lot of 'you should really do this' or 'you really shouldn't do this'. Lots of new rules and regulations were added to the requirements for salvation. I was assured Jesus's sacrifice was enough for redemption of my soul but 'real Christians' had a whole list of rules to live by.
The disciples of Jesus were not given that list. They were just invited to 'come and see'. His disciples followed Him day by day. They learned of His love and compassion and forgiveness. They learned Who He is and learned directly from His heart. They didn't change instantly. They learned how to live by following His example. Some of the disciples went from self-centered to being Jesus centered. They went from demanding the places of importance to giving their lives for Him. They had a complete change of focus. It was not from a list of do's and don'ts, it was from a deep, heartfelt commitment to the Messiah. Learning at the feet of Jesus is a lifetime commitment of learning Who He is. It is studying His word to find out how He thinks, how the depth of His love for us flows from Him through us to others. The more we learn of Him, the more we understand His plan for the world and us in particular. Ps 103:7 tells us He showed His acts to Israel and His ways to Moses. Moses wanted to learn all about Who God is and why He does what He does. It is the difference between knowing the dates from history and learning the causes of the events. When we love someone, we want to know all about that person. That is what God wants us to feel about Him. He calls us the apple of His eye. He loves us. |
AuthorPlease join us as we grow in Christ through our weekly devotions, written by Catherine Donaldson 
Archives
June 2021
|
RSS Feed