Lent day 3

Romans 5:12-17Living Bible (TLB)

12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die,[a] for all sinned. 13 We know that it was Adam’s sin that caused this[b] because although, of course, people were sinning from the time of Adam until Moses, God did not in those days judge them guilty of death for breaking his laws—because he had not yet given his laws to them nor told them what he wanted them to do. 14 So when their bodies died it was not for their own sins[c] since they themselves had never disobeyed God’s special law against eating the forbidden fruit, as Adam had.

What a contrast between Adam and Christ who was yet to come! 15 And what a difference between man’s sin and God’s forgiveness!

For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this one man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s mercy.16 Adam’s one sin brought the penalty of death to many, while Christ freely takes away many sins and gives glorious life instead. 17 The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to be king over all, but all who will take God’s gift of forgiveness and acquittal are kings of life[d] because of this one man, Jesus Christ.

I like the Living Bible's version of these verses - it makes it clear and easy to understand.  Adam and Eve ( she doesnt get a specific mention but I think we can safely include her here !) ushered in a whole heap of doom and gloom by their one act of disobedience. Sin, death , separation and alienation.  But Jesus through His one act of obedience not only reversed all of that but did SO much more.  

Today I have a lengthy and deep ' God' conversation with the boys in the car on the way back from an afternoon at the beach.   They wanted to know what was the difference between Christianity and all the other world religions.  Muslims and Buddhists etc believe in God, want to do good - who is to say that we are right and they are wrong?   It's a crucial and important question to ask, and to answer.  And the answer I gave them came back to the problem of sin and what the Bible says about it.   No other religion (as far as I know, and I have not made an in depth study of them all) provides an answer for the problem of sin.  If we have to work to gain acceptance with God, to make ourselves good enough, to pay off our debts...... well, as far as I can see we will never make it.   Sam asked me today whether someone like Hitler, someone evil who had committed unimaginable atrocities, could be saved if they truly repented and came to Jesus .  I said yes.  YES!  Sam was not coinvinced.  So we talked about the punishment we thought Hitler should have received for what he had done.  All those lives annihilated in the holocaust  .  Sam said it would have to be the worst death imaginable.  Tortured and slow and cruel and horrible.  And I explained to him that this is what the death of Jesus was like.  Because Jesus was taking Hitler's place.

It's sad that we have somewhat sanitised the crucifixion.   Sam didnt see it as particularly horrific.  How can anyone not see a crucifixion as horrific?    Perhaps because we have seen it so often portrayed as this . A pale white perfectly clean Jesus neatly placed on a piece of perfectly carved wood with a modest loincloth covering Him and a halo shining.

But the punishment Jesus took in His body for us was truly horrific.  He was beaten to a pulp with a cat of nine tails studded with broken glass and nails.  His skin was flayed from his back.  In searing heat he had to carry his cross on that butchered back with a crown of vicious thorns rammed onto His head. His beard was pulled out.  Stop to think about that for a moment.  He was spat on and jeered at and then nailed stark naked to a piece of wood in front of his mother.  Adam was naked in the garden - as God had intended him to be.  Unashamed and vulnerable before God.  Shame at his nakedness is the very first consequence

of the fall.  Now Jesus is naked before the world He has come to die for.  To be naked is deeply shameful.  But He is reversing every detail of the fall in his death.  And He does it willingly for me, for you, for Hitler.  He takes what we deserve and what He does not deserve and trades places with us for love.    It was good to have the chance to explain this to Sam and Josh today.  And good for me to realise it all over again.

               

Lent day 2

Genesis 2:16-17New International Version (NIV)

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Ch 3   4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[a] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

We've read this, heard this, known this for ever - it is hard to get anything new from the story of the fall.  Well, hard for me anyway.   Chapman in his book Forty Days of Grace  talks about the sense of guilt and shame experienced by Adam and Eve the moment they realised that they had done wrong.  They have a conscience and it is fully activated at the moment of the fall - because they have eaten of the tree of knowledge and now they know exactly what they have done.  They are aware of their own sin.  They are aware of the disappointment and sadness and anger of God.  They know they are naked and they are ashamed.  They discover how to lay blame on someone else and shift responsibility.  They quickly work out how to hide.  

And I'm no different.

Isn't it a good thing that we have the capacity to feel guilt?  To know when we have stepped over the line of righteousness into unrighteousness.  Regardless of whether we have a relationship with God or not, everyone who is not a psychopath has a conscience.  God has seen fit to furnish us with a still small voice which makes us feel bad when we go wrong.  Why?  So that we can repent.  So that we can make amends, be sorry, learn from our mistakes.  Imagine what it would be like if we did not have that capacity??   It's never comfortable to feel guilty or ashamed.  It's never easy to say sorry or to make recompense for wrongdoing.  But how much worse would our world be there was no such thing as a conscience?

Lent Day 1.

I wanted to write the Lent Blog again this year but was a bit clueless as to what and how - so I've gone for a book ( at the suggestion of a friend)   Days of Grace - a forty day journey with Jesus  by Raymond Chapman.   It will hopefully provide a starting point for some musings and who knows where it may take me.

So we start - aptly - at the beginning .   Genesis and the very reason for all of everything.  The question Chapman asks is WHO AM I ?    Its a question I've asked a lot in the past few years - possibly because my identity seems to have changed massively as I've moved from single to married, from couple to family, from beloved and valued to stranger and newcomer.  From 'sorted' to depressed.  From worker to housewife.... the list of transformations seems to go on and on and I have to say its left me wondering who I am.....

So it's good to go right back to the start and be reminded of what God did then , and why.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number;fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

The italics are mine .  These are the words which stood out to me particularly as I pondered the passage this morning.  I was struck that one of the primary reasons God made man was SO THAT he could look after and care for the earth.  And of course the primary reason He made the earth was SO THAT man could care for it.   Im not particularly into the whole 'saving the planet' thing.  I dont vote Green.   I do recycle and hate littering but Im not a vegan and I dont sign up to most of the petitions on Facebook shouting about the melting ice caps and things.   But reading this today has made me remember that God has put us on the planet to look after it and that means me.   What do I do which contributes to the trashing of this beautiful orb?  Do I really realise just how sad it makes God when I am wasteful and neglectful and take it all so much for granted?

Male and female.  God is both. So why arent I ?  It would cut out a whole heap of hassle and all of that Mars and Venus stuff - as well as persecution and abuse and all the rest.  But He chose to make us male and female.  Distinct and relational.  Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em .  I'm pretty sure its all to do with the marriage relationship which God uses as the closest analogy to the relationship He wants to have with us - a depth of intimacy and commitment demonstrated through a physical union which is a pale shadow of what is to come when Jesus takes us as His bride.    The Bible is the story of God looking for a bride and I am she.  That's who I am.   Mustnt forget that.

 And finally God blessed.  He is always blessing.  I think it's just about His favourite thing to do.  After years of pondering I'm still pretty sure that I don't really know what blessing is.  It is the intentional speaking out of goodness - and when God speaks then what He says happens.  It is therefore creative and holds an element of promise.  I wonder why God blessed us with fruitfulness and ruling and not with obedience and faithfulness ??  He clearly wanted us to bear fruit - a theme which continues throughout the Bible and which moves through physical childbearing to the spiritual gifts and all points in between.  He also wants us to subdue the earth and rule over it - exercising authority, organising, tending, being stewards, being productive and managerial.    He sets out how we should do it in great detail - and of course, His ways work and our ways... well, they work less well.  Check out this site if you want to know what farming God's way looks like for example.  http://www.farming-gods-way.org/

God saw what He made and He liked it. 

When God made me He saw what He had made and He liked me !   He liked you too.  You are very good.  Not a mistake.  Not a second.  Not a work in progress who will eventually be good enough when all the rough edges have been chipped off..... but very good.  Right now.   I know that sin came in and spoiled it all but the bottom line is that God puts us together in our mother's wombs and everything He makes is very good.  We bear His likeness.  We are here for a reason. He loves us.   A good place to start I think