Friday, June 21, 2013

God's Covenant

Within the span of the first 5 chapters of Genesis, the first of 66 books in the Bible, man had already shamed God into wiping the slate clean.  The serpent was able to so easily convince Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then she corrupted Adam.  God sent both from the Garden of Eden as punishment for their disobedience.  But when God saw what had become of his creation during the age of Noah, he was sickened.

"The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.  So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-- for I am grieved that I have made them." [Genesis 6:5-7 NIV]

After the flood had wiped the earth clean of all living creatures, except for Noah, his family, and the animals God commanded him to save, God made a covenant to Noah that he would never again destroy life on earth with a flood.  Genesis 9 outlines this covenant and this sets a basis for the faith in his future promises.

I am amazed at the dedication, steadfast commitment, enduring strength and resolve of God for sticking to this covenant.  God saw what had become of his creation then and destroyed everything.  But look at what we have become now... and he has let us live.  The earth is filled with so much sin.  Murder, greed, envy, pride, lust, sexual immorality, theft, lies, disobedience, idolatry, guilt, jealousy, poverty, inequality, racism, sexism, discrimination, human trafficking, drugs, prostitution, starvation, disease and pollution. 

I can't imagine the pain he feels now seeing how we have corrupted his creation.  I wonder how badly he wants to start over again... wipe the earth clean and try for a third time.  But he won't.  He can't.  He made a covenant to Noah and God keeps his promises.  That is one of the greatest things about God.  We can always trust that he keeps his word.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Setting biblical & spiritual goals

The message tonight at midweek service struck a chord for me.  I realized that as a natural goal setter, I hadn't set any goals for my spirituality.  Sure I was involved with the church and different ministries, and I'm always looking for new ways to serve.  And we have our discipleship time with Joel and Beth with the goals of becoming closer to God, as individuals and as couples.  Our discipleship partners check in on us and hold us accountable when it comes to staying strong with our faith.

But I wasn't personally doing anything to set goals for myself, for my family, or for my spiritual future.  The message tonight focused on a few key questions:

1.  What do I want to be when I grow up [as a disciple/christian/leader/teacher etc.]?

2.  What do I need to do NOW to make that happen?

The first thing that I thought of was how much I look up to 4 specific women in our church.  They are all strong, Godly women who have put God first in their lives and have outwardly shown me what it means to prioritize.  But even though I look up to these women, I wasn't following their example.  I would get advice from one, and she would quote scripture.  I would go to another when I was feeling down or anxious, and she would quote scripture.  I would ask another how I can be more like her, and she would quote scripture.  

There seems to be a common denominator here...  the WORD.  I need to just plain read my Bible.  I need to read it and take notes and re-read my notes.  I need to live the Word and practice the Word and share the Word.  I need to be able to turn to the Word, and know where to turn, when I, or another sister, needs encouragement or strength or love.  Without the Word, as a disciple in a church that lives by the Word, I can't meet my goals of becoming more like these Godly women that I look up to.

So my goal is this:  I'm going to read my Bible everyday for the next 365 days.  I've never read cover to cover, so I'm starting with Genesis and buzzing straight through to Revelations.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.  No excuses, no "I'm too busy" or "I'll read extra tomorrow".  I'm going to take notes and I'm going to blog about it and I'm going to act on opportunities to share what I've learned.  I'm hoping to encourage my fellow sisters to follow my blog too.  If I know others are keeping me accountable, sitting eagerly by their laptops or smartphones or tablets, waiting for that blessed email saying I have a new blog for them to read, I will stick to my goal.

I better get to it...