- araratchurch
- Jul 30, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 15, 2024
“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps. The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.”
Proverbs 14:12, 15-16 NLT
The Lord had put Adam and Eve in a garden, probably far beyond what we picture in our minds as being their setting. It was surely a wonderful place, and they had been given the authority to rule over the Earth.
There was only one thing the Lord apparently required. That one thing was that the first couple not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
As we all know, the serpent challenged God‘s motives for not wanting them to eat the fruit, and Eve fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
“The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.”
Genesis 3:6-7 NLT
And thus began man’s experiment with self-rule, lasting only moments, ending in the devastation of being separated from God through Sin. But just as is common with the fallen nature of man, many souls keep trying the same strategy (rebellion against God), expecting a different result.
Before moving on from Eve’s failure, let us take special note concerning her “reasoning.”Having been given a suggestion from the enemy concerning God‘s motivation, she decided to take stock of the situation for herself. This led to her conclusion that it would not be a bad thing to eat of the fruit of that tree. Indeed, we are told: “She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.”
Make no mistake, it continues to end tragically when we suppose that our estimation of anything exceeds God’s understanding.
Additionally, if we truly knew Who God was, we would know that obedience to Him cannot be based on our understanding of His reasoning. To use a statement employed by earthly parents: “You do it (or not do it) because I (He) said so.” He knows what we don’t know. But ultimately, He is the Lord, and that should be sufficient reason for our obedience to Him.
However, many people still choose to follow their own assessment of the right way to go. Of course, those who seek their own way, still don’t see that at the bottom of their rationale, is a lie from Satan.
In our opening scripture, we see the proverbial writer issuing wisdom concerning the danger in seeking to choose our own way.
You see, we sometimes continue to believe that we see rightly, that we know exactly what we’re doing. But the fact is, we can all look back over our lives and see disastrous decisions we made, based on how we thought things were. Only later—too late to change what had been done—did we realize there was something we missed, something that—had we seen—would have changed everything.
Child of God, let’s follow the Lord, depending on His sight, rather than our own. After all, before we saw what we saw that would have changed our disastrous decisions, we didn’t see it….
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Jul 29, 2024
- 2 min read
“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”
Romans 1:21-25 NLT
I’m sure you’ve probably heard the phrase: “All that glitters is not gold.” Indeed, many people have lived the painful truth expressed therein.
In the days of the California gold rush (1848-1855), over 300,000 people from all over the United States risked life and limb in hopes of finding a mother-lode of gold. The thing is, many of the inexperienced prospectors—far from finding a mother-lode of gold—found a load of, well, pyrite. And although pyrite can be a source of sulfur, it’s not the quick trip to wealth they were seeking.
Tragically, the running after of a false hope doesn’t end with inexperienced gold prospectors caught in the spell of glittering pyrite.
The fact is that people have always had the tendency toward chasing after what appeals to their flesh senses, only to be left more miserable and destitute in spirit after each empty pursuit.
The Lord, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, addresses the tendency of Israel to always be looking to a source other than Himself.
“For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”
Jeremiah 2:13 NLT
Israel refused to seek after God, the source of life, choosing rather to seek the empty source the world offers.
In our opening scripture, we see Paul writing to the Romans concerning just such a situation in terms of those who worshiped idols. But make no mistake, idol worship goes far beyond sitting in front of an image and humming. Anytime we allow the “shiny objects” dangled in front of us by the devil to divert us from seeking after the Lord, we have abandoned the true and living God to run after falsehood.
Child of God, we must keep our eyes on Jesus, following after Him, seeking Him above all else, and not fall for the distractions offered up by the enemy of our souls. Otherwise, we may well find that the fool’s gold we are pursuing has our name written all over it.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Jul 28, 2024
- 2 min read
“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”
John 8:31-36 NLT
Most people are aware of the power of addiction. We’ve all seen lives, families, hopes and dreams, destroyed because of addiction. Many of us have even seen family members suffer because of addiction. Sometimes we are the one who has fallen into the trap of addiction.
We understand all too well the power and pull of chemical addiction with alcohol and other addictive drugs. We’ve also seen addictions that involve things like food, or even being addicted to things having to be done in a certain way (compulsive behavior).
Some people are addicted to pornography, or even to social media. Have you noticed that when you are “scrolling” on your phone, it is sometimes difficult to stop? Even that behavior is self-perpetuating.
Now, an aspect of sin of which many people are unaware, is the addictive nature of sin—any sin. And, the more sin someone commits, the more they are compelled to commit sin.
The irony is that people who want to do whatever they want to do without regard to whether it is sinful, equate that with freedom. What they fail to realize is that with every sin, the hold sin has on them is further tightened.
The bottom line is that without the freedom that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, we are addicted to sin and can’t break loose from it.
In our opening scripture we see that the religious leaders were offended when Jesus said that He offered truth that would make them free. After all, their father was Abraham!
Jesus’ answer to them pointed out a simple truth: Those who sin are enslaved to sin. Sin cannot be “managed.” We must die to sin by identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Only then can we follow after righteousness. Only then are we free to become like our Lord.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior]. For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Romans 8:1-2 AMP
Make no mistake, if we are not submitted to Christ, we are necessarily slaves of sin. And sin, leads to death. But if we do submit ourselves to Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we can say no to sin and pursue righteousness.
Only when the Son has set us free from the power of sin, are we totally free!
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!