three centers

I have decided to read through the Bible, a couple chapters a day, in the New Living Translation.  Having read the first several chapters, a few thoughts have bubbled up.  The discussion of Creation made me think about "centers".  It seems like there are centers for people, solar systems and universes.  I thought of three centers that are still part of our reality.  The sun is the center of our solar system, where earth is only one of several planets.  Earth seems to be the center of God's Creation, from the perspective of the Bible and the greenhouse for His experiment in life.  But the third center is the one we wrestle with most as people...it is our personal center.  From the earliest days of man it seems we have wrestled with the question of what rules our inner person.  God wanted to be at the center from the beginning and He made that clear by providing all that was needed for life, but Adam and Eve wanted to push God out of center and eat from the tree that would give them all knowledge, so that they wouldn't need Him.  I think this "battle for the center" is still our greatest conflict...but when properly resolved leads to our greatest peace...when a spiritual x-ray of our center shows our trust in the Creator.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Genesis 3:3 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"

² "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied. ³ "It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'"

⁴ "You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. ⁵ "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil."

⁶ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 

blessings,

Rob Smith