Category — devotional

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.

I know this isn’t the “official” verse for today, but it fit so well that I had to use it.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…
Matthew 25:35 – ESV

We have been learning about loving our enemies this week, and this verse in Matthew gives us a practical way to do it.

Service.

You can serve someone while grumbling.  You can set out to help them and let it create bitterness in your heart… but you can also set out to serve them and pray that God will use that time to change your heart towards them.

And while you are doing these acts of service, you can pray for them.  After all, it’s pretty hard to hate someone when you are lifting them up before God.

Feed them.  Give them something to drink.  Welcome them into your life.  Smile.  Bring their trash can in from the road.  Mow their grass.  Buy them a cup of coffee.  Get to know the person behind the facade – you might be surprised to find out that their circumstances aren’t that different from yours… and that what has hurt you was simply a knee-jerk reaction on their part.  Who knows, you may even find a friend.

Yes it’s hard.  Yes it takes sacrifice on your part.  Yes it takes an act of God in your life because it’s not the natural human reaction.

It’s the God reaction.

And if you need to, consider it a way to strengthen your faith… because it will if you let it.  And it will also serve to help you be more like Christ.  To be known by His love.

1 Peter 3:8-9 is pretty clear on how we are to treat everyone we come into contact with.  I have pulled the verses from a few translations to shed light on the passage from different angles:

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹ Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. – ESV

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Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. ⁹ Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it. – NLT

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⁸To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; ⁹ not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. – NASB

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Finally, all [of you] should be of one and the same mind (united in spirit), sympathizing [with one another], loving [each other] as brethren [of one household], compassionate and courteous (tenderhearted and humble).  ⁹Never return evil for evil or insult for insult (scolding, tongue-lashing, berating), but on the contrary blessing [praying for their welfare, happiness, and protection, and truly pitying and loving them]. For know that to this you have been called, that you may yourselves inherit a blessing [from God--that you may obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare and happiness and protection]. – Amp

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^8-9Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing. – The Message

It doesn’t really matter what translation you choose, the message stays the same.

Love one another.  Sympathize with one another.  Bless one another.  Have compassion for one another.  Live in harmony instead of dischord.

And when you receive evil – be it insults, biting sarcasm, scolding etc – don’t retaliate with the same.  Instead follow what our momma’s taught us and “kill them with kindness.”

Ooh – that one hit home.  As someone who jokes that English is my second language – sarcasm is my first, well, let’s just say that it’s not that easy to hold my tongue when someone gives me a tongue lashing.  Sarcasm is my first line of defense.  It’s my counter-attack.

Oh, wait…

…we aren’t supposed to be attacking others. We are supposed to be blessing others.

crud.

Boy do I have a long way to go… and many apologies to give.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:12

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Loving our enemies falls under loving one another.  Jesus still loved the Roman soldiers as they were nailing his hands and feet to the cross.  He called out to God to forgive them for the act of murdering Him – while he was hanging there in agony.

He loves us even though it is our sin that made Him hang there.

Are we more holy and pure than Jesus that we can’t forgive those who say something that pierces our hearts?

We don’t have to like what someone does to us, but we are still called to love the person doing it – through God.

We love them through Him.

This week we are focusing on love for our enemies.  It’s a worthy topic, and one that I’m sure most of us could learn a bit more about.

There are also verses each day in this study that are there to help support the basic idea, and today’s verse – found in Galatians 6:3 – seems to exist to remind us that we really aren’t all that and a bag of chips.

Check it out:

³For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another's load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself.

That’s in the Amplified version.  I also liked the New Living Translation:

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

Ouch.

This gets back to biblical servant-hood.  You know, that thing we are called to as heirs to the Kingdom of God.

I don’t know about you, but serving my friends isn’t all that challenging.  Serving the church, yeah I can do that (after all, it is in my job description).  But serving those that I don’t really like?  Not so easy.  Serving those that have hurt me?  Even harder.

But right there in Galatians God is telling me that I’m cheating myself when I find it beneath me to serve someone.  I’m deluding myself to think that I’m somehow better than they are.

I’m just not that important.

To myself, of course, I can often times think “I don’t need to do that,”  but if I follow through on that thought I’m not following God.  I’m setting myself up as my very own idol on my very own pedestal… and I’m going against God.

I don’t want to go against God, because I know who will win every single time… and it ain’t me.

But I also have to fight that battle against my own flesh that wants to do things my own way and doesn’t want to have to fold the laundry or clean the toilets or pick up trash in the auditorium or set up and tear down the sound system twice each week.  But I have also seen the blessings that come from doing each of those things – my family has clothes to wear, I’m not embarrassed when someone uses my toilet, the auditorium looks better when everyone else gets there, and relationships and camaraderie are built when I humble myself enough to serve others.

And you know what?  I actually like to set up the sound system.

But I’m still scared to crawl under that stage to get the snake out.  Can I pass on just that one?

⁵ David slipped over to Saul’s camp one night to look around. Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army, were sleeping inside a ring formed by the slumbering warriors. ⁶ “Who will volunteer to go in there with me?” David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother.

“I’ll go with you,” Abishai replied. ⁷ So David and Abishai went right into Saul’s camp and found him asleep, with his spear stuck in the ground beside his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying asleep around him.

⁸ “God has surely handed your enemy over to you this time!” Abishai whispered to David. “Let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t need to strike twice!”

⁹ “No!” David said. “Don’t kill him. For who can remain innocent after attacking the Lord’s anointed one? ¹⁰ Surely the Lord will strike Saul down someday, or he will die of old age or in battle. ¹¹ The Lord forbid that I should kill the one he has anointed! But take his spear and that jug of water beside his head, and then let’s get out of here!”

¹² So David took the spear and jug of water that were near Saul’s head. Then he and Abishai got away without anyone seeing them or even waking up, because the Lord had put Saul’s men into a deep sleep.

¹³ David climbed the hill opposite the camp until he was at a safe distance. ¹⁴ Then he shouted down to the soldiers and to Abner son of Ner, “Wake up, Abner!”

“Who is it?” Abner demanded.

¹⁵ “Well, Abner, you’re a great man, aren’t you?” David taunted. “Where in all Israel is there anyone as mighty? So why haven’t you guarded your master the king when someone came to kill him? ¹⁶ This isn’t good at all! I swear by the Lord that you and your men deserve to die, because you failed to protect your master, the Lord’s anointed! Look around! Where are the king’s spear and the jug of water that were beside his head?”

¹⁷ Saul recognized David’s voice and called out, “Is that you, my son David?”

And David replied, “Yes, my lord the king. ¹⁸ Why are you chasing me? What have I done? What is my crime? ¹⁹ But now let my lord the king listen to his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my offering. But if this is simply a human scheme, then may those involved be cursed by the Lord. For they have driven me from my home, so I can no longer live among the Lord’s people, and they have said, ‘Go, worship pagan gods.’ ²⁰ Must I die on foreign soil, far from the presence of the Lord? Why has the king of Israel come out to search for a single flea? Why does he hunt me down like a partridge on the mountains?”

²¹ Then Saul confessed, “I have sinned. Come back home, my son, and I will no longer try to harm you, for you valued my life today. I have been a fool and very, very wrong.”

²² “Here is your spear, O king,” David replied. “Let one of your young men come over and get it. ²³ The Lord gives his own reward for doing good and for being loyal, and I refused to kill you even when the Lord placed you in my power, for you are the Lord’s anointed one. ²⁴ Now may the Lord value my life, even as I have valued yours today. May he rescue me from all my troubles.”

²⁵ And Saul said to David, “Blessings on you, my son David. You will do many heroic deeds, and you will surely succeed.” Then David went away, and Saul returned home.

1 Samuel 26:5-25, NLT

This is our passage this week.  David loved his enemy through God.  He stayed Abishai’s hand when he would have killed Saul because God had anointed Saul as king.  David waited on God’s timing.  We will start picking it apart tomorrow, but I wanted to let the story sink in today.

As I read Hebrews 12:14 this morning, I at first zeroed in on the whole “peace with everyone” part because it is the topic for the week – loving your enemies.

Then the second part of the verse caught my eye:

Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.

Pursue consecration and holiness.  Sanctification.  Separation.  Holy lives.  Clean lives.  Different translations use different words, but they all point to the same thing – living a life that is set apart and pleasing to God.  Living a life that in as much as you can is without sin.

This, I think, is a key to the christian walk.

We are called to be in this world, but not of this world.  We are called to be set apart, to look different in the way that we act and react in this world.

This leads to a lot of discussion about those gray areas of life.  Things like watching movies and drinking alcohol, listening to secular music and wearing pants vs. dresses.  Areas that have divided the Church and sullied the Bride of Christ in the eyes of the world.

I’m not going to address those areas, simply because I don’t have God’s answers to them.  I believe that God will convict each person in those areas as He sees fit, and it’s not my place to force my brothers and sisters to what God has convicted me of.

It goes back to that whole “strive to live in peace” part of the verse.  Don’t create conflict where there doesn’t need to be any.

But what does it look like to be set apart?  To pursue holiness?

Personally I understand it to live my life in such a way that I am pursuing God above all else.  That I am sensitive to the promptings of The Spirit in my life, and I am seeking to live a life that gives glory and honor to the Almighty God… and not to me.

and it is hard.

But if we do not seek God, if we don’t pursue a life that is set apart to Him, Hebrews 12:14 tells us that we will never see Him.  It doesn’t matter what translation you look it up in, the bible is pretty clear on that point.

To see God, we must pursue Him.

And that means that our lives are to be lived with an eternal perspective.  That we continuously place God on the throne of our hearts (even though we want to be there ourselves) and seek to serve Him in all things.

ALL things.

Come to think of it, isn’t that what worship is?  Every breath we take, every thing we do is done to give God the glory.  Is done in worship of Him.

We are set apart for Him.  We were created for Him.  We need to worship Him… with all that we are.

Last week was all about conflict management.  This week is about loving your enemies.

I gotta admit, I’m not terribly thrilled about either topic.  What can I say – I’m human.  These are things that in my own strength are difficult.  My humanity makes me want to seek revenge – or at the very least lash out at those who seek to hurt me or those I care for.  Loving those who hurt me and resolving the conflict in the way God calls me to just isn’t all that easy – unless I seek to resolve it in His strength.

Which brings us to the first verse for this week – is a good one:

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

- Hebrews 12:14 – ESV

Different translations use slightly different words or phrases for the beginning of this verse, and I’d like to examine them.

Strive for peace.  (ESV, Amplified)

Pursue Peace (NASB)

Make every effort to live in peace (NIV)

Work at living in peace (NLT)

Follow after peace (KJV, ASV)

Wow… it seems to me that this peace thing isn’t an easy task.  It is something that we have to strive for – to work hard at.  Something that just isn’t a natural tendency of mankind.

Maybe that’s why it seems so hard to do some days.

Living at peace with everyone around you comes from a heart that is filled with God’s love for everyone around you.  A heart that seeks Him above all else.

But there are days that it is more challenging than others.  Days where it takes a bit more striving.

This week we will be looking at David’s second opportunity to kill Saul while he was being hunted down by him… and chose to honor God by allowing Saul to live.

In the meantime, let’s work on this whole “pursue peace” thing with those we come into contact with.

I know I need to focus more energy there, how about you?