Fw: the nature of man

We like to think that people are essentially good.  We like to think that we are generally in the right.  But I don't think so. I think our tendency is to go wrong more than it is to go right...if we're left just to our personal desires.  God got pretty frustrated with mankind in the early generations...so much so that He regretted ever making man.  Were it not for Noah there would have  been no-a more people!  Consider the account of Genesis 6:

-

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

-

As I think about it, I owe a lot to Noah.  None of us might be here if He hadn't chose to walk in obedience with God.

-

It's not that we are essentially good...It's that God is completely good and gracious to rescue us from our selves!

-------------------------------------------

"Death is inevitable.  Life is a choice!"

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."

Fw: two bites of the apple

Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

-

When Satan tempted Eve with the fruit of the one tree that she and Adam were not to eat, she showed us the drama of sin as it plays out in our lives as well.  It occurred to me that Satan knew just what "buttons to push"...what would appeal to the eye, to the stomach and to the ego.  And before Eve actually ate the fruit physically, in her mind she had eaten it already with anticipation.  She bought the expectation of fulfilled desire, was absolutely convinced that everything she wanted would be realized with tasting, chewing and swallowing it (and she also was convinced that she knew this better than God!). 

-

It takes "two bites of the apple to sin".  First we become convinced that what we know is wrong is actually right (because we know better than God somehow...or we rationalize that it may be wrong from God's point of view...but we prefer our point of view.)  This is the first bite.  The second bite just follows through on what has already been determined somewhere within us.

-

No wonder we need to guard the inputs to our mind.  Satan knows our weaknesses and will exploit them.  But God is made perfect in our weakness and if we fill our thoughts with His we are more likely to be convinced of the outcome of His promises and this is the first bite of the good fruit of faith.  The second bite follows through to put faith into action.

-

Walking in obedience to God means being careful about making the first bite (even before we have actually tasted the fruit)!

-------------------------------------------

"Death is inevitable.  Life is a choice!"

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."

Fw: dust and bone

Genesis starts with God's creation of everything we know...all living and inanimate things and beings.  I was struck with the fact that God spoke the creation of animals into being without giving much detail.  But with men and women He threw in a little more information.  Consider these verses:

-

Genesis 2:7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

-

Genesis 2:20 But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

-

These details are interesting in their nature and their distinction.  First God made the earth and then He made man from the substance of the earth.  Then He made woman from man.  I don't know what it all means but here is a thought: Our temporary life that runs from birth until death is housed in a complex body that was made, for men, directly from the elements of the earth.  Clay people.  Man was not complete in this form.  He needed help for the natural life and so God made woman from man's substance.  From dirt to man to woman to completed couple...whom God entrusted to then care for the earth that provided the substance for living.

-

God is the creator of life and the designer of marriage and the provider of purpose.

-

What began, continues!

-------------------------------------------

"Death is inevitable.  Life is a choice!"

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."

Fw: Eagle flight

I caught this eagle in flight this morning over the Diascund Reservoir.  It was about 20 degrees outside but the eagles and other birds didn't seem to be affected by the cold.  They seemed to be having fun climbing and diving and circling over the water.  The view of eagles soaring seems appropriate as an image on this first day of a new year.  The cold air awakens us (and freezes us unless we dress for it!) as the new year refreshes our hopes and expectations.  It's almost as if the slate has been cleared...the white board erased...the new canvas posted on the easel and we can soar also beneath the sunlight of our Creator and above the fears and failures that may have anchored us in the past.

-

Hope is an eagle that has taken wing in our hearts.

Isaiah 40:31a 

   but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

-------------------------------------------

"Death is inevitable.  Life is a choice!"

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."