2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from those who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us. For you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you. We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”
How are you doing with reading through the Bible. We started 8 days ago. The Book of Genesis is exciting! It lays the groundwork for the rest of the Bible. What has caught my eye this year and has me pondering? What has caught your eye and has you pondering? I long to have a discussion with each of you so that we may grow in our walk with Jesus.
“Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw it was good.” Gen 1:12b
God created vegetation, seed-bearing plants, trees and fruit. I am wondering why this hasn’t been good enough for those experimenting with hybrid seeds and plants, or more recently GMO seeds and plants? It seems to me that all this modernization of what God created is trying to improve on something already “good”.
But of course, there is a whole lot going on in the name of science today that is doing just that, they want to make something already “good” into something better. Truly, they want to become like God.
Again, we can look no further than Genesis 3 to see that evil entered and wanted to convince Adam and Eve that they could be just like God. And because Adam and Eve fell into sin, they cursed all generations. Not only that, but they were quick to blame each other for this sin and even pointed the finger at God…He caused them to sin. In my opinion, that is probably the height of stupidity but it didn’t stop there. We see people everyday who blame someone else for the sin they commit rather than take responsibility for their actions.
That, my friend, is why we need Jesus so much in our lives. That is also why we need to read the Bible daily, to take what we have read and apply it to our lives.
When we sin, we should automatically feel shame. Shame in this instance is not a bad thing but a good emotion to draw us back to our Heavenly Father in repentance. Instead, we continue on with Adam and Eve’s blame game and have an excuse. Is our conscience so seared that we cannot name our sin and ask God to forgive us? To ask Him to help us to never do that particular sin again? Or do we see this shame as a challenge to be covered with more sin and the cycle continues?
Next, I want to touch a bit upon the Tower of Babel. When a group of people, who spoke one language, set a goal to build a tower to become like God. One language does make a group of people strong; they can unite on all fronts and at some point, pride rears its ugly head. They think they can outsmart God, become like God, be gods. Thus, the more languages the less creative, the less productive and so on. They destroy themselves. It’s happened in the past (in just the first few chapters of Genesis) and it continues to this day and will happen in the future.
We also learn in these early chapters of Genesis that God protects His own. Abram seemed to take things into his own hands often, as did Isaac and Jacob, but God protected them, punishing those who laid a hand on them. What is the secret of God protecting? Recognizing our sin, asking God to forgive and be intentional in not repeating that sin again.
So we can see that nothing is too hard for our Lord! Nothing!!
The last thing I wrote down for these first 8 days of reading is Genesis 31: 19, 30-32. We must be so careful not to favor one person over another. When we do (and we do), the favored one can sin right in front of us and we won’t see it. Or we make excuses for their sin. Be careful! Whether it’s your children, your friends, or any other relationship, be aware that you can be blinded and ask God to give you insight and that you will accept this insight.
No matter where you are in reading the Bible, keep going! Ask God each and every time you sit down to read to give you insight of what He wants you to learn that day. After you are finished with your reading, pray that He will help you to live a changed life.
And before we go, I want to challenge you to be intentional in your daily living. We all waste too much time on social media, the computer and TV so take that first step of turning away from whatever it is that is robbing your time. Is there a book that you’ve been wanting to read but never got around to it? 2023 is the year to read it along with many more. Is there a hobby that you have wanted to start? 2023 is the year!
For myself, I have found a blog that I wrote when I was in Russia and am taking some of those stories and adding them to my third book. It is going to be published this year. I am not sure how or where but it is!
And my newest undertaking is starting to develop. I have been doing some watercolor painting for the last five years, usually in the form of note cards and then just giving them away. Well, I am stretching my abilities and am going to start reproducing the newest cards that I’ve been painting. That means I hope that you might be interested in buying some of my cards as they are available. Everyone likes to get real snail mail and sending a card with a short note from you is a perfect way to get started.
Meanwhile, I look forward to hearing from you. You can always let me know how I can encourage you on face book (A Fae Original page) or you can send me an email (manager@afaeoriginal.com). Have a blessed week!