The Loss Of Innocence

At what age do children become aware of their nakedness? Seven? Eight? It's usually around that time they begin to want to bathe and dress themselves, while a careful mommy or daddy supervises them. My youngest grandchild is seven, and she hasn't begun to try to bathe herself yet. I'm saying all this to reflect the innocence that young children have, even though the average child will hide herself from a stranger.

 


All of this ran through my mind during my Bible reading this morning as I read about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Many of you know the story.

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die' "(Genesis 3 : 2 - 3).

Eve disobeyed God and ate from the fruit of the tree that God told them not to eat from. Then she gave some to her husband Adam and he too ate of the fruit. The result was that their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked. In other words, they lost their innocence. They now had more knowledge than they had before, but sin had entered the world, bringing with it pain, sorrow and death. 

Knowledge is not necessarily a bad thing, but when we look at our world today, we see all the turmoil that has come about as a result of the misuse of knowledge. God wanted to keep us innocent so we would not get hurt, but man in his insatiable desire for knowledge, went against God's wishes. 

But God's story always has a beautiful ending. Even though He banished them from the garden, "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them" (v 21). Adam and Eve had covered themselves with fig leaves. Those would soon wear out, but the garments of skin signify the robe of righteousness we will one day wear, a covering that will last forever. And, we will have free access to the tree of life.

The book of Revelation tells us, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God" (2 : 7).

No matter how old or young you are, you stand naked before God. He sees you, just like He saw Adam and Eve, and He knows everything about you. If you are trying to hide from Him, it won't work. But He is such a gracious God He will gently cover you and protect you, if you will let Him.

Adam caused us to lose our place in the garden of Eden, but we have been restored through the blood of Jesus Christ. Will you thank Him today? 

 

 

Don't Go There!

David and Bathsheba by Jan Matsys, 1562, Louvre (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just one is all it takes. One drink, one puff, one night in a cheap motel somewhere and you can end up in a condition that may last the rest of your life. You may even end up dead. Just one. People, young and old, are getting hooked on drugs and alcohol. Teenage girls, as young as eleven, experts say, are getting pregnant and/or contracting STDs.

Recently, I listened to a broadcast by one of my favorite apologetics, Ravi Zacharias. He said something so significant I had to write it down. He said, "It is easier to say no before you have tasted it than after you have tasted it." In other words, don't taste it! You know what happens when you eat that first nut or that first chip. Before you know it, you have eaten the whole bag.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Ravi states that God has given us the capacity to control our appetite. We do not have to give in to sin and temptation. The Bible tells us, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin" (Hebrews 4: 15). 

In an earlier chapter, the writer said, "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2 : 18). 

King David was a powerful and highly-respected king, but one day he saw a woman having a bath, and he gave into temptation. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, but it didn't stop there. When she became pregnant, David tried to get her husband Uriah, a general in his army, to go home and sleep with his wife so she could pass the child off as his. But good soldier that Uriah was, he refused to go home while the other men were either camping out in the fields or sleeping in tents. So, David conspired to have Uriah killed. Just one look led to adultery then murder. To top it off, the baby died. 

God is saying to us, "Don't go there!" Don't start something that will cause you regret. If you are tempted, pray. Jesus knows our weaknesses and  "is able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2 : 18). 

Related articles

• Bathsheba is Today's Religious Topic of the Day (04/13/15)
• God Needs More than "Oops"

A Funny Thing Happened

A funny thing happened on my way to the parking lot the other day. I heard a thud and

when I looked around, there was this pigeon that had fallen off the roof of the building. For a split second our eyes met, and I was certain I saw a look of embarrassment in his eyes before he got up and flew off. I was glad he didn't seem hurt, but I don't recall ever seeing a bird fall and get up like that. I continued on my way thinking, what resilience, what fearlessness that bird showed.

The Bible and history record many stories of people who fell, got up and continued on their way. King David is one who comes to mind. David was specially chosen by God to be king of Judah after Saul displeased God. David became an exemplary leader until he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. But David rose from his position of disgrace and went on to write Psalm 51. In this Psalm, David admitted his guilt, cried out to God for forgiveness, and God heard him.

 "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge" (v 4).

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me" ( v 10 - 12).

This Psalm touches the heart of everyone who reads it because it is a genuine outpouring of David's sorrow for his actions. It's the reason God called David a man after His own heart ( Acts 13 : 22). Contrast this with Saul's reaction when he realized that the Lord's spirit had departed from him. He didn't pour out his heart to God and beg for forgiveness the way David did. Saul consulted with the witch of Endor to bring up the spirit of Samuel the prophet to tell him what to do. The Philistines were gathering forces against Israel, and Saul was very afraid. (1 Samuel 28: 1 - 19).

This is just one of the many accounts in the Bible of how God uses imperfect people to carry out His purpose. David was not perfect, but he knew how to humble himself in order to be restored to God's will. So, what will you do if, or when, you fall from God's favor. Will you turn to your friends or to supernatural means for guidance? Will you stay down, or will you rise up and fly away like the pigeon? We are all prone to sin, but thank God for His grace that is bestowed on us through Jesus Christ. When we fall, we can cry out to Him and He will hear and restore us. Don't be embarrassed. Get up and fly into the arms of your Maker.  He is waiting for you.

Related articles

• David's Repentant Heart
• Create in Me a Clean Heart
• "What should we learn from the life of David?"

Will You Wave Palm Branches?

The church I attended as a child had a Palm Sunday tradition where the congregation would leave the building just before the sermon and walk a short distance into the village waving palm branches. It was something I looked forward to. Why? I'm not sure. I knew the significance of what we were doing. My mother had read it to me, and I'd heard it in church. We were reenacting what took place when Our Lord rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on that first Palm Sunday, and I guessed I liked making believe that I was a part of that parade.

But even as a child, I knew that something awful happened after Palm Sunday. The same people who waved palm branches at Jesus Christ and spread their clothes for Him to ride on were the same people who cried out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" days later. How could that be? Sadly, we have only to look at our own fickle selves. Today we sing and dance and clap our hands in fervent worship and praise, but tomorrow when temptation and hardship and pain come we quickly forget what He did for us 

Oh, we do not cry out "Crucify Him!" as the Jews did, but every time we give in to sin and temptation, murmuring and complaining we crucify Him, because it was our sin that put Him on the cross.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed . All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53 : 5 - 6).

Today, as we celebrate Palm Sunday, let us make it last. Let us continue to worship and praise Him even when Holy Week is over. Let us praise Him when the bills are not paid, or our children are acting crazy or a layoff appears imminent.  Let us say like Job did, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him" (13 : 15).

Do You Need A Revision?

A friend and fellow blogger wrote a post about writing yesterday, and titled it "The End or The Finish." In her post, Glenda Mathes said, in essence, that when a writer has finished writing a story, novel or whatever, she still has to go back and revise it to make it the best it can be. I couldn't agree with her more, but as I reflected on the post, it occurred to me that her concept could very well apply to the Christian walk as well.

How many of us have found ourselves at the end of  the rope, so to speak, before we decided that something must be done. How many of us have ignored the signals sent to us by the Holy Spirit to turn around and revise our ways and now we are hanging by a thread, wondering when would it end? In the Old Testament God sent prophets to the people to tell them when they were doing wrong. But in most cases, they ignored the prophets and suffered greatly for it. Read about Eli the priest and his sons (1 Samuel 2 : 33 - 35); Nathan and David (2 Samuel 12 : 1 - 19); the prophets and King Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24 : 1 - 2) ; the prophet Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4 : 25; 28 - 33) and many others.

After Daniel had interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream to him, he ended with these words:  "Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue" (v 27). This story has a happy ending. After the prophecy was fulfilled, and the king lost all he had, including his sanity, he looked up to heaven and acknowledged God (v 34 - 37). 

Maybe you are in need of some revision before you reach your end. Maybe you feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit, but don't know where or how to begin. You cannot do it on your own. Ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and make you a new creature. The minute you do that, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you and begins the revision process. He'll remove everything that is keeping you from being a worthwhile servant of God. Don't put it off. The end may be near. Are you ready?

What A Forgiving God

Today my Bible reading took me to the book of Jeremiah, the OT prophet who was so distraught for his people that he wished "my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people" (9 : 1). Jeremiah loved God and was faithful in carrying out His commands, but in this chapter Jeremiah had a complaint. And it concerned the seeming reluctance of God to punish the wicked. Jeremiah said, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts" (12 : 1 - 2).

Sodom And Gomorrah Revisited

Image via Wikipedia

"Champagne corks popped, rainbow flags flapped and crowds embraced and danced in the streets of Manhattan's Greenwich Village as New York became the sixth and largest state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage." So reads the first paragraph of an Associated Press release on yesterday's historic legislation of same-sex marriage. Another report states that New York has 42,000 same-sex couples and that the passage of this bill can have tremendous moral and political impact for the rest of the country. Already New York is gearing to make New York the primary destination for gay weddings.

Is Your Dad Perfect?

Photo credit: manuere from morguefile.com Some people may answer  "yes" to this question, but I know some, men especially, who will give an unequivocal "no." It always saddens me when I hear the latter. My own father, who departed this life when I was just a little girl, was my hero. He taught me to read and spell while he indulged his hobby/part-time occupation -shoemaking. Needless to say, I had shoes to match every dress, and love shoes to this day.

My father also cultivated in me a love for reading and I became a good speller. I enjoyed going places with him, and when I heard his voice in the front yard in the evening, I would leave my mother and run to meet him. She often complained that I loved my father more than I did her, which wasn't true, of course. I was just fascinated with him - his voice, his smile, his jokes. The only bad thing I can recall about my dad is that he left me too soon. Late at night, quite suddenly and without warning. Died of a stroke in his sleep.

So, what about your dad? Is he flawless in your eyes? A man's man? A woman's man? As head of the home, fathers carry a heavy responsibility. They are entrusted with the task of providing, protecting and caring for the home and family. The mother is the one who nurtures, comforts and keeps the home together. However, a real father assumes the mother's role as well. The father who confronts the school bully is the same father who takes his little girl on his lap and reads her a bedtime story. Or tucks her in at night. Or takes her to the doctor when she is ill.

Sadly, some dads do not measure up to the ideal. Some walk out on their families and never look back. Others stay in the home, provide and protect but do little else. We need to pray for these fathers. I think of King David, a mighty man of God, but his track record as a father left a lot to be desired. His son, Amnon, raped his daughter Tamar (2 Samuel 13: 10 - 18) and even though the Bible says David was furious (v 21) he did nothing about it. Absalom, David's other son, had Amnon executed to avenge what he had done to his sister.

Later, Absalom fled from David and they didn't see each other for two years. Eventually, Absalom tried to take the throne from David and to murder him, but Absalom himself was killed. On hearing the news, David wept bitterly. "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you--O Absalom, my son, my son!" (18: 33).

Many thoughts run through my mind when I think of David. After his sin with Bathsheba, the prophet, Nathan, told him, "Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house ..." (12: 10). Oh, if David only knew the weight of those words. As a father, his sins fell not only on him, but on his children. Fathers, do not let this happen to you. The Bible says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). Provide, protect and care for your family, but make sure you obey God's word. Happy Father's Day!

IT IS FINISHED

In every role I perform I am well aware how difficult it is to get anything finished. As a housewife, I know my housework is never done. Do I hear an Amen, ladies? As a mother, I continue to mother my children even though they are all adults. As an employee, I leave work every evening knowing that I'm coming back to more of the same the next day, and as a writer, I can re-write until I no longer recognize my own words, but I know the work is never really finished.

However, Jesus' last words on the cross were "IT IS FINISHED!" (John 19: 30). What did He mean by those words? And what was finished? Jesus had been on this earth for thirty three years, but only the last three of those years were spent in actual ministry. During that time, He performed many miracles, cultivated many followers, as well as enemies, and taught multitudes of people about the kingdom of God. But the purpose for which He came to earth – the redemption of Adam's fallen race – was not accomplished until He hung on that cross.

And the reason it was accomplished was because God "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). When Jesus cried "It is finished", He had completed all the work the Father had sent Him to do. He said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work" (John 4: 34). So let's look at His record: He fulfilled every prophecy, gave us access into the Holiest of Holies so we could come directly into God's presence, secured our redemption, laid the foundation for the establishment of the New Testament church, set us free from the sting of death, hell and the grave and paved the way for the Holy Spirit to come into the world. He left nothing undone.

But work is always difficult, and Jesus' work, ending with death on the cross, may have been the most difficult of all. But the Bible says, "he became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). The excruciating pain of crucifixion was bad enough, but before that, Jesus had to suffer the agony of Gethsemane – the place where the burden of what He was going through became so unbearable, the Bible says his sweat became "as drops of blood" (Luke 22:44).

You may be going through your own Gethsemane right now, and, like Jesus your friends may have deserted you. Your burden seems too great for you to bear. The enemy keeps bringing up your past sins, past mistakes, past failures. He taunts you and makes you think you will never come out of your situation, but he is a liar and the father of lies. However, because of what Jesus did on the cross, you can shout "IT IS FINISHED!" Your hurts, disappointments, failures are nailed to the cross with Christ, your Redeemer. Gethsemane is behind you; Good Friday is over, Easter has come. The dawn of a new day awaits you. Shout for joy and give Him praise. Halleluiah!

Happy Easter

Forgiveness

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving home from church, something from my growing-up years suddenly flashed through my mind. It was not a pretty memory. I couldn't imagine what it was about the cars rushing past me at 80, 90 miles per hour on a Labor Day weekend that brought that ugly memory to my mind. It was enough to bring me to a screeching halt in the middle of the highway, but I kept going.

When I got home I thought about my unsettling flashback that had not occurred in decades. Why now? Why after a church service filled with fervent celebration of God's goodness? I don't know, but after I spoke to God about it, He said, "I don't remember it. Why are you allowing the enemy to torment you with this after all this time? I have forgiven you; now you forgive yourself."

Humbled and grateful, I said, "Thank you, Lord."

And I thought about forgiveness.

It's never an easy task to forgive someone who has wronged us. We can always say "I forgive you", but oftentimes we harbour the pain and resentment of whatever the act was. That is not what forgiveness means. If we cannot let go, if we cannot pray for and bless that person without cringing, then we haven't really forgiven them. Notice I said, without cringing. Because we are going to remember. It might come to us suddenly and without warning, or it may come each time we see the person. But if being in the same room with that person causes us pain, anger or any negative emotion, then we haven't really forgiven.

Even more difficult is forgiving ourselves. We have seen videos of people in other cultures who flagellate and cut themselves to atone for their sins. To those of us who are born again Christians, these acts may seem absurd, but we are doing the same thing when we struggle with guilt over past sins. We are saying to God, "I don't believe I've been forgiven. I don't believe the blood of Jesus can really wash away my sins."

The Bible has a lot to say about forgiveness. One example is the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers. After they found out who he was, they were afraid he would try to pay them back for what they had done to him. But Joseph said, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:19-20). NIV

After God spared the life of Hezekiah, king of Judea, he prayed, "...In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all sins behind your back" (Isaiah 38:17). Isaiah prophesied to the people of Israel, "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist ..."(Isaiah 44:22).NIV. And the One who bought our redemption, Jesus Christ, said, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:14-15).

Let us, therefore, thank God for His wonderful love that causes Him to forgive us when we ask, and just as He does to us, let us also do unto others.