Faith Inspiration - Oswald Chambers - Our Great Capacity for God - Part 2: Sin's Beginning

Last month we started a deeper dive into this quote from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest.

“We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin——we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience...We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him...we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our ‘arguments...and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5)——we have to do it.””

— My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers - November 18

I discussed what it might mean for us to have a great capacity for God. You can see that post here. This week we are going to start looking at the three things keeping us from experiencing this great capacity for God. The first of these deterrents is sin. Let’s do a quick Biblical review of sin’s origins.

Image by Petra Ohmer from Pixabay

Once again, we are taken to the beginning. In the book of Genesis we see the story of the creation of the world, including all that is living from plants and animals, to fish and humans. We see that God placed Adam, the first man, and his wife, Eve in a beautiful garden called Eden. He gave them everything they needed and they could eat from any tree in the garden but one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

“15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.””

— Genesis 2:15-17 (NASB 1995)

Image by NoName_13 from Pixabay

All we need to do is read the following chapter to see that Adam and Eve chose to do exactly what God told them not to do and from that tree they ate. Of course, they were manipulated by God’s enemy, Satan, who was disguised as a beautiful serpent.

“1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 For God knows that in the day 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 tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

— Genesis 3:1-7 (NASB 1995)

Image by NoName_13 from Pixabay

We need to look at this passage and really understand how easily one wrong thought, one wrong choice led to the downfall of humanity. Let’s look at Satan’s tactics (and yes I have covered this before, but it is important), and look at Adam and Eve’s responses.

1 - Satan went to Eve first. We are not told where Adam was, but the serpent started with Eve. I don’t know why he approached her first. Perhaps he knew she was more easily persuaded by his charm and beauty.

2 - Satan immediately manipulates God’s words. He asks Eve, Did God say you couldn’t eat from the trees in the garden? I am assuming he already knew exactly what God had told the couple. He knew they could eat from all the trees except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

3 - Eve misquotes God. We can see in chapter 2 God told them if they ate of the tree they would surely die. He said nothing about them touching it. Eve adds the idea of physical touch also leading to death, as though that would seem more dramatic.

4 - Once again, Satan manipulates. “You surely will not die!” While we know it was not an immediate physical death, we also know eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil did lead to both an eventual physical and spiritual death; just a little detail the serpent left out.

Image by Alex Yomare from Pixabay

5 - Satan turns the screw tighter. “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.” Satan offered, not only the possibility of being like God, but he caused Eve to question whether God was trustworthy. Can’t you hear her thinking, “If God really loves us, why didn’t He tell us this from the start? Why is He withholding it from us?”

6 - Eve looked and desired. Instead of turning away from Satan and looking for Adam to seek his input, she looked at the tree and saw it was desirable for food, and a delight to look at. You can see the wheels spinning in her mind. She saw that it was beautiful, then she desired it, then she remembered what Satan had just told her, it would make her wise…so she took and ate.

7 - Eve took her husband down with her. We can’t say Eve did this with any bad intentions. She may have just been very excited and perhaps the fruit tasted divine and she wanted to share it with her beloved. Whatever her reasons for including her husband in this defiance of God’s command it lead to the fall of humanity from the grace of their loving Creator.

Image by Nika Akin from Pixabay

8 - Adam and Eve immediately experience shame and want to hide. The serpent was absolutely right about one thing, their eyes would be open and they would know good and evil. It would be interesting to hear their conversation as they suddenly came to the realization they were naked and as they sought to find leaves to cover themselves.

The reason I covered this in detail is to show you the progression that all sin takes and has taken from the very beginning.

1 - Satan finds us when we are alone and vulnerable. When do the temptations come in our lives? It is always when we are struggling and discouraged, and most often when we feel no one has our back. Sin will creep in when we feel alone, sad, angry, discouraged, overwhelmed, anxious, and not enough.

2 - Satan will manipulate God’s words. How often have you heard people say, “If God is good, why is this bad thing happening?” Or, “God must not really love me, or I wouldn’t be struggling.” Or, “Where was God when this terrible thing happened?” Satan takes the truth about our God: that He is good, that He loves us, or that is with us always, and turns it on its head. “God didn’t really say….”

Image by Fathromi Ramdlon from Pixabay

3 - Satan doesn’t just manipulate God’s words, he manipulates our circumstances and the voices we hear around us to reinforce the lies he has begun to feed us. God isn’t really loving if He condemns people to hell. God isn’t really good, just look at all the terrible things going on in the world. There is no such place as hell, we will all be in heaven one day. When we die we become our spirit animals and play happily in the clouds. I am sure you can list other thoughts and ideas you have heard.

If we do not know God’s word well, or we begin to question God’s love and authority, we will begin to question the authenticity of the Bible. I know many who were raised in the the church who grew up under the teaching of God’s word who now are questioning that it was actually inspired by God, and that the men who wrote it were just interjecting their own opinions and thoughts. It is not too far a leap to give up on the truth of the Word all together when going down that path.

4 - We no longer talk about sin. The word sin is no longer politically correct, or woke. This is exactly where our enemy wants us to be. Sin has gone into hiding, covering itself with the beauty of the world’s philosophies that everyone is okay and no one is bad.

Next month we will delve deeper into what the Bible says about sin, this obstacle that keeps us from our great capacity for God. I hope you will join me.

Let me know your thoughts by leaving me a comment. I appreciate all of your feedback.

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 2: The Manipulator

Last week we took a look at the origins of Satan. I used two Old Testament passages to explain how Satan was created by God, to be a powerful, beautiful being who was placed in the Garden of Eden. I also let you know that these two passages are somewhat controversial, as far as many scholars believe they are only referring to the two literal kings: the King of Tyre and the King of Babylon. However, I also believe there is truth in these passages that applies to our enemy, Satan.

This week I want to move away from Satan’s origins and look at his tactics. It might take a few weeks to thoroughly go over the characteristics of our unseen enemy. Before we start looking at the tactics Satan uses, I thought it would be helpful to understand what Satan’s names mean.

Satan - in both the Hebrew and the Greek the name Satan means adversary. If you look up the word adversary in the dictionary it says, “one that contends with, opposes or resists.” (Merriam Webster Online dictionary)

Devil - in the Greek this word refers to one who is a liar, slanderer and accuser.

For the purpose of these posts, we are going to stick to those two names, but you have probably also heard the devil called the Father of Lies, Beelzebub, Lucifer and many others.

I would like to start with one of the very first tactics we see Satan use in the Bible.

Manipulation.

Image by Alex Yomare from Pixabay

Webster’s online dictionary gives these as some of the definitions for manipulation:

- to manage or utilize skillfully

- to control, or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one’s own advantage

- to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose 

Now let’s look at the manipulator in action.

“8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

— Genesis 2:8-9 (ESV)

“15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

— Genesis 2:15-17 (ESV)

“1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

— Genesis 3:1-5 (ESV)

Image by Kookay from Pixabay

I know I am giving you a lot of Scripture, but it is necessary to fully understand the whole picture. We are not going to get into why God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden, because His ways are not our ways, and many things we do not understand, that is why it is called faith. Some may say, “Well, then, your faith is blind.” On the contrary, my faith is that much stronger, because I do not need proof that God is good. His goodness so far outshines mine there is no way I can make a comparison between what I think is good and the pure goodness of a Holy God.

If you look at the above three passages, all from the first book of the Bible, Genesis, you can see how Satan in his conversation with the woman in the garden, manipulated her and the truth. I honestly don’t know what Eve was thinking when she said, “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” God did not say they couldn’t touch it, only that they were not to eat from it.

Satan then takes full advantage of the opportunity. Eve was already walking on precarious ground seeing that she did not remember what God had said about the tree, or what her husband had told her. She opened the door to doubt and deceit by not knowing the Words of God. Can you see how important it is to know God’s Word? Satan had her right where he wanted her. He, in his beautiful, handsome and beguiling way charmed her by twisting another truth that God said.

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Image by minka2507 from Pixabay

Take a minute to think about that. Satan was right. They didn’t die, at least not physically, right away, and their eyes were opened, they did know good from evil. How very sad! God wanted them to know only good. He gave them a beautiful place to live, a purpose for their existence and a relationship with Him, but now their eyes were wide open. The devastating guilt, the regret, the sadness and the pain would be felt for the rest of their long lives.

Why did Satan do it? Remember what we learned last week? He was full of pride. He very well may have been jealous of the time and attention God devoted to the mere human beings. He was full of violence. What better thing to do than to violate the precious relationship God had with His creation?

The application today.

Have you ever been manipulated by someone? It is not a fun feeling. Perhaps you are manipulated by your spouse, your boss or a friend. Perhaps, you are the one who manipulates. Why do they do it? Why do you do it? It is always about self: what I want, who I am, what I want to feel, and what I want to obtain. We’ve heard all sorts of stories in the last few years out of Hollywood about the “casting couch”, where directors, producers and fellow veteran actors have taken advantage of actors and actresses promising them jobs, popularity, money and accolades in exchange for sex. Isn’t this exactly how our enemy works?

Let’s take the application further and look at what is going on in our country with our upcoming election and civil unrest. No matter how you look at it or what side you stand on I believe we are being manipulated. The media manipulates. The candidates manipulate. The social entities who are trying to bring about change are using manipulative methods to achieve their ends. The sad thing is many of these people and groups blatantly admit they are working with our enemy to get what they want.

I am not here to win you over to one side or the other, but let me make something clear; our enemy is delighted by the violence, rioting, killing, lying and hate that is going on. I can picture him, his grin like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, delighted by the chaos of humanity. He is thrilled, because he has had to do so very little. He sends a few of his minions out, to plant a see of doubt or hold one captive to stare in the face of hate, so that eventually they are overcome by it.

I want you to take some time to think about this idea of being a manipulator. Is this something that pleases God? God does not manipulate. His will is clear in His word. He doesn’t play games, that is the ploy of our unseen enemy.

Next week, we will look at another one of Satan’s tactics. Until then, pray, rejoice, give thanks and put on the armor of God.

Traits of a Godly Person: Moral Excellence - Part 1

The phrase, moral excellence, to some, might conjure images of judgment and prudishness that they want nothing to do with. However, moral excellence is simply the desire to do what is right, and the choice to avoid doing what is wrong.

We all face moral choices every day. Most of us will not kill, even though that customer we dealt with might be deserving. Most of us will not harm, especially those who are weaker, like a child or a person who is ill. But does this trait of moral excellence come into the world with us or does it have to be taught and learned?

If you have ever taken the time to watch children, you will know the answer to this. Children can be taught kindness, goodness, honesty, and other morally excellent characteristics, but left up to their own choices most will choose to demand their own way and demand it immediately. Moral excellence goes out the window when a coveted toy is involved or when competition to win the game is at stake.

The Bible confirms our sin nature:

“All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”

— Psalm 14:3 (NASB)

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

— Romans 3:23 (NASB)

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

— Romans 5:19 (NASB)

“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification”

— Romans 4:25 (NASB)

We live in a fallen world. It is easy to turn away from that which is morally excellent in order to have fun, feel good and be accepted. Our minds are filled with messages that tell us, if it feels good do it, if there is a rule break it, and anything that is conservative and restrictive is bad, while all that is freeing and pleasurable is good. We are inundated with bad news which causes us to wonder if it all is worth the effort, but even amidst all the chaos, God is still good and He is still working.

Here are a few quotes on excellence:

“Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”

— Aristole

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

— Will Durant

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

— Vince Lombardi

“We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent. ”

— Barack Obama

As you can see, most of these quotes, other than Aristotle’s are not specifically referring to moral excellence, but you could take each quote and plug moral excellence in for excellence to get the idea. If moral excellence is something that comes about only by habit, then what sorts of choices do we need to be making to be morally excellent?

I think the first thing we need to understand is the word morality. What does Webster’s online dictionary say? Here are several definitions related to moral as an adjective.

1 - of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior

2 - conforming to a standard of right behavior

3 - capable of right and wrong action

These definitions work from the perspective that there is a moral standard and that is what I want to address.

There are two other definitions that speak to a perceived morality - which means it is someone’s idea of what morality is.

4 - expressing or teaching a conception of right behavior

5 - sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment

My belief system revolves around a moral God. God is not only morally excellent, but He is perfect. A being that is purely loving, good, kind and just, cannot be morally corrupt. I also believe that God is the author of morality. He was the one to create us and to put us into a world dependent on choices. He also made us with a free will. We are able to choose to do right or to do wrong.

In the Garden of Eden, God set a moral parameter.

“15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.””

— Genesis 2:15-17 (NASB)

The command that God gave Adam, was straight forward; if you do this then this will happen. There wasn’t a plethora of other voices telling Adam, “Dude, you can make up your own morality.” Well, there was one voice, and that was all it took.

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

“1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day 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 tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

— Genesis 3:1-7 (NASB)

How quickly this all came about. One day Adam and Eve are grooving in the garden, enjoying the beauty of their relationship with God and each other, in a setting beyond what we could possibly think or imagine. They had purpose in their lives to care for the creation God had given them and actually walked with the Almighty in this amazing place. BUT, that wasn’t enough. Eve was tempted by that which wasn’t known.

Isn’t that one of the major problems involved when we stray from the right and wrong that God laid out from the beginning of time? We want to know. We want to know what that tastes like, looks like, feels like and sounds like. We want to take our lives into our own hands, but in reality what we do is exchange a good and gentle master for one that is harsh, and unrelenting.

Image by 진혁 최 from Pixabay

When it comes to moral excellence it becomes a matter of choice. Adam and Eve chose to do wrong. I choose to do wrong when I get angry, eat too much or become fearful. We are no different from our forefathers. The Bible is full of real people who were less than morally excellent, yet God loved them and used them anyway.

Not wanting this post to get too long, I’m going to save what moral excellence looks like for a Godly person until next week. This week, do some homework. How often do you think about the choices you make? How often do you hear those messages that say you are the one who decides what morality is for you? If you come across something specific, or have a thought from the Spirit, I’d love to hear about it.

Have a great week, everyone and thanks for joining me on the blog. If you know anyone who might benefit from reading these blog posts, please pass it on. I appreciate all your support.

Waking Up from Our Black Sleep

In all areas of life, remaining static is not an option. One of the grocery stores I shop at has a small rise in the middle of the parking lot. As much as I try to not park there, I still seem to end up at the top of that small rise. You can guess what happens when I get my cart to the car and try to open the trunk. The cart starts to roll away. Those who say multitasking is really not a very efficient way to do things have never seen a 52 year old grandma fling open the car trunk, hang onto the cart and stuff the bags of groceries inside. Multitasking is essential. In the same way growth is essential in our lives. Life, so often, is like a juggling act, one that takes off even as we struggle to hang on, just like my gravity bound cart. If we do not make purposeful choices to grow, life will get away from us.

Growth in our Christian lives should always be our goal. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but no, we have not arrived and we never will until we meet Jesus in the air. We are to be imitators of Christ (Ephesians 5:1). We are called to be Christ-like (Philippians 2:1). We are to do whatever we do for the Lord, rather than men (Colossians 3:23). Unless you know of some special pill we can take to make us instantaneously Christ-like, we have to grow.

Photo Credit Rebecca Trumbull

It sounds so simple. You've heard sayings such as, "Bloom where you are planted," and "Sew seeds of love." So quaint. So easy. Not! True growth is like exercise: repetitive, grueling discipline. Wanting to do better, go higher and be more is a choice. And most often, not an easy one. Paul spoke in Philippians 2:12 of working out our salvation. Notice in the verse there is a four letter word - work. Work implies effort, but it also implies reward. When God gave Adam the job of naming the animals and tending the garden (see Genesis 2) he was rewarded, not only with a beautiful companion, but with the satisfaction of his effort.

Some of you may be gardeners. I like to play with flowers and plants. I find something richly satisfying about getting my hands dirty. I love the feel of the soil in my hands and the tearing of weeds from their deeper holds. This comparison transfers easily to our Christian growth as well. Is is satisfying to read God's word with attention and understanding. It can be enriching to find a church home where you can have fellowship and teaching with other like-minded individuals.

Think of growth like a river. As long as the river flows freely, growth and health are taking place. When the river hits debris in its path, it may become backed up resulting in a stagnant, murky pool. Do you want to be a stagnant and murky Christian? Or do you want to allow Christ's Spirit to flow freely, directing your life and taking you where He wants you to go?

Photo Credit Rebecca Trumbull

Is growth necessary? Absolutely! Examine your life and ask Jesus to show you where you need to grow. Maybe your prayer life is weak or nonexistent. Maybe you have secluded yourself because you have been hurt. Take steps to reconnect with those who care about you. Maybe you feel God calling you to get back into His word. Why not start a Bible study with other women at a coffee shop? Even in our wilderness wanderings, we still need to grow. In fact, it is often in these times of loss, loneliness and suffering that we have the most opportunity for growth, but it is up to us.

If you were a tiny seed or a bulb, down in the dark earth, you would not think to question, "Gee, should I grow this year?" As soon as the earth started to warm in the spring sun, an energy would fill you with urgency to push yourself up and out of that black sleep, to rise and bloom. We are the crown of His creation. If a little seed can be transformed into a beautiful plant then we too need to push ourselves our of our black sleep and grow.