Author: strive4theprize

May 19, 2014

Good News…Bad News

Genesis 18

Good news or bad news…which do you prefer to hear first? This episode in the life of Abraham highlights two essential aspects to God’s character represented by the two pronouncements…a message of hope and life to Abraham and Sarah and of judgment and death to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In the first scene, Abraham dwelling in Mamre, the place of worship. The LORD announces a miraculous birth, is the Giver of life, shows grace to the chosen couple, is faithful to His promises…Seed of the woman, Genesis 3:15, He’s the Doer of the impossible. Immanent. Mercy.

In the second scene, Sodom is described as exceedingly wicked. The LORD pronounces  judgment, is the Taker of life, judges the seriousness of sin… seed of the serpent, Abraham is faithful to intercede for, the LORD’s the Just Judge. Transcendent. Justice.

God is both merciful and just. Merciful to those who cry out to Him. A Just Judge to those who reject Him. But notice even in His judgment the mercy He extends toward the wicked for the sake of the righteous. His desire is not to destroy, but that all will come to know Him. And to that end, Abraham intercedes for Sodom. Praying for the good of the city because of the potential impact that the righteous can and should have.

We have a similar opportunity to intercede…to pray for those who are far from God. To stand in the gap for our 8-15. Like Abraham, we too, are called to be a source of blessing to the families of the earth, all of us who have believed are a part of the people of God who are to faithfully bear His image to the rest of His creation. So if you are a believer, pray…pray for your 8-15. Pray for the city.

If you have not yet come to the place in your spiritual journey where you would say that you have a relationship with God…you can have that today. It’s as easy as believing that Jesus came and lived the life you were supposed to live, died the death you were supposed to die and was raised again so that just as He conquered sin and death, you too might conquer sin and death and experience life…life today in His kingdom.

And if you’re like Sarah, maybe you’ve crossed the line from death to life but are still struggling with trusting God in the day to day. Maybe you are worn out with waiting for God to “show up” in your situation. Maybe you’re not sure that He is able to help. Or maybe He can, but will He (or why would He?)? Remember the LORD showed up for Sarah…to strengthen and affirm her faith so that in Hebrews we’re told, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” The LORD wants us to trust Him in the day-to-day, and not just for a secured future.

My prayer for us this week is that we would be a praying people…interceding for those who don’t know our Rescuer. And for those of us who are Sarah’s, that He would show Himself real in our day-to-day.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

May 5, 2014

All In

Genesis 17

What separates the average, even the good from the great? Throughout history, those who have changed the world have not only been fully convinced but also “all in” with that thing, whatever it was that was their passion. From outstanding athletes like Kobe Bryant or Peyton Manning to famous thinkers like Albert Einstein or Aristotle to founders of great movements like Martin Luther King, Jr. or his namesake Martin Luther.

Abraham made some incredible strides in his faith journey with God. He left the known for the unknown. He faced down incredible odds to rescue lot. He passed on the tainted riches of Sodom. He built altars along the way. But he also trusted in his own ingenuity…Egypt, Hagar. And while the promises of land and blessing don’t seem to trip him up, he struggles with the promise of a son. Lot. Eliezer. Ishmael. All want-to-be contenders for the title. But none the one God had in mind. Abram’s a believer…he has a relationship with God, but he struggles with fully trusting Him when it comes to a son…maybe not so much that God can (is able), but how could He (how is He going to do it). He has a seeing problem, his eyes keep getting in the way. He’s divided in his affections. In other words, his focus tends to drift to the earthy, the physical. He’s missing the incredible spiritual reality…nothing is beyond Creator God!

I can relate to Abraham. I have a “seeing” problem as well. Circumstances often inhibit my ability to live like I’m trusting God in the day-to-day and dictate my attitude toward others. Instead of viewing the world from God’s perspective, knowing that He is working, I lament the fact that finances are tight, relationships are sometimes hard, and situations don’t always work out the way I think they should.

God calls Abraham to be all in. He didn’t want just a casual relationship, a when-it’s-convenient- or a when-the world-is falling-apart-I’ll-call-upon-You companion. He wanted all of Abraham. He wanted Abraham to experience the life that He had created and saved him for. He didn’t want Abraham to settle. He wanted him to have it all. He wants the same for us. God wants us to experience life to the full in His kingdom…right now. But we can’t experience that life if we aren’t all in. And that takes a singleness of purpose, a driving passion, a desire and a determination to be all in that is only possible through the work of the Spirit in our lives. Without that we will only experience the frustration of what could have been. The “if only” reality that most of us invariably settle for.

My prayer for us this week is that we, like Abraham would be all in and that we would leave behind those things that keep us from pursuing Jesus with reckless abandon, so that we might experience the unbelievable adventure of walking with God with singleness of purpose (blameless) and incredible joy.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

April 28, 2014

Kicking Down the Door

Genesis 16

­­­Why is it so hard to wait? And why is it so easy to take matters into our own hands…to kick down the door?

Tens years and no sign of movement. The promise is confirmed to Abram, but what about Sarai? It’s easy to see how and why Sarai gets to the place where she feels like she needs to kick down the door, you know, help God out. Names are key. God sees, and He hears. It takes the faith experience of Hagar to remind the chosen couple of what they should have already known. And although they should have known better…so should we.

But how many times have we done the same thing. I shared the story of my work experience last week. My journey out to California has some of those same elements. I knew God had gifted me to teach. I had a desire to pastor a church. So I began to test a few doors. As time went on, I became more and more desperate and pushed harder. And each time I pushed, I became more frustrated and bitter. It wasn’t until I stopped pushing and went through the door He had opened that I found peace and eventually my way here doing what I love to do.

A good friend of mine asked a very perceptive question…how do I know when to wait and when to take action? In other words, when is waiting just laziness or taking action kicking down the door? If we are honest with ourselves, I think we know when we are taking matters into our hands, when we are rushing in. God sees and hears, but He also speaks…He guides. Unless He’s clearly directing, it’s best to wait. But when He’s clear, it’s time to move…to go.

Bottom line: when we kick the door down, when we try to help God out, we are in effect saying we know better than God. We are doing what’s right, the good, in our own eyes. And there are always ramifications. Anger. Frustration. Job loss. Broken relationships. Etc. Abram and Sarai’s decision has far reaching consequences…conflict in the Middle East, Muslim and Jew/Christian even today. And many times the negative effects are the result of the comparison game that inevitably gets played every time we do what’s right in our own eyes…I put myself in the place of God. Instead of trusting that God sees and hears, that He knows, I become the one who sees and hears others, judging and condemning them.

So, where do you see yourself in the story? Abram…failing to trust God and lead well. Sarai…failing to trust God and taking matters into your own hands, helping God out, kicking down the door. Or Hagar…realizing, maybe for the first time, that God does see and hear you, that He knows you and wants to rescue you. Whichever you are today, God sees and hears and knows and cares. If we have learned anything about Abram so far, we know that he will be building another altar shortly. The consequences remain, but restoration is available.

My prayer for us this week is that we realize God sees, hears, knows and cares about us, and may that give us the freedom to love others unashamedly and run after Him.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

April 21, 2014

God’s Story

Genesis 15 – Resurrection Sunday

Easter. What’s in it for you? What is your hope today? A good job. A loving marriage. Well-behaved kids. Cool parents. Bright future. New romance. All good things. Maybe you have begin to think about your own mortality and your hope is in a legacy, leaving a mark on planet earth so that 100 years from now, folks know that you were here? But it’s clear…if your hope is based on earthy things, they are all destined to fail. Everything ends up in either the graveyard or the junkyard. The things of this world will pass away.

Abram’s hope is clear…the promises that God had made to him. Land. Seed, aka Jesus. Blessing. Blesser of the nations. Abram believes God, and He reckons it to him as righteousness. Abram’s faith made him righteous before God…not his obedience or lack thereof. His faith. Period. Hebrews tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. What was Abram believing…Genesis 3.15. That God would provide the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman, aka Jesus, to rescue and provide the way back to paradise, to restore the relationship with Creator God and life in His kingdom, that through Him all the families of the earth would be blessed. And ultimately Abram’s hope is resurrection. The promises that God had made…descendants, land, blessing to the nations were not realized in Abram’s life. He would only fully realize them in resurrection. Hebrews tells us he was looking for a better country, a heavenly city. Abram looked forward to Jesus.

The Son of Promise has come. The Genesis 3:15 Head-crushing Seed of the Woman, our Rescuer, Jesus rent the veil between heaven and earth, between time and eternity and stepped onto the world stage. Jesus, who came to do what we could not do….provide the way back to God. To conquer sin and death. To restore the image so that we might return to Paradise, to provide the promise of life. That by faith in Jesus, who lived the life that we were supposed to live, totally obedient and dependent on God, who died the death we deserved…the death that has been ours by birthright since the garden. The death that was surely required for our rebellion, that through faith in Him we could participate in the most absurd gift exchange in the universe…His righteousness for our sin…so that we can have life…a different kind of life, real life, eternal life with Father God in His kingdom. I don’t understand it, but am amazed by it. That is our promise, that just as Jesus conquered sin through His death and death through His resurrection, so sin and death for us are over and done with if we believe. Abram was promised a kingdom and a legacy for His faith. So are we. When God Himself, in smoke and fire walked between those bloody animals, He made that walk for you as much as He made it for Abram. He is preparing that kingdom even now, and has set another a day in the eternal calendar to return once more to this earth and set up a kingdom that will have no end. We have been called to set out on a journey, to a place He will show us, in an act of faith. Faith because we have no power at all to make that promise happen. We have no way in and of ourselves to go to that kingdom or to reign there. But that promise has been made to us.

Do you know the amazing love of God today? Do you want to?

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

April 14, 2014

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener

Genesis 13-14

Have you ever made a ‘grass is always greener’ decision? You know, looked at what you had and thought you deserved better? Better job? Better house? Better friend? Better…?

At the crux of this story is a decision….a decision to trust God or trust self, to believe what God has revealed as good or define good for self. Two characters represent these two paths. Abram chooses to trust to God…and He comes through in amazing ways. Lot chooses to trust in self…and it ends in disaster. Abram sees the world through God’s eyes. He has a heavenly or spiritual perspective. Lot can only see what’s in front of him. He has a very earthy perspective. The kicker is…both are believers.

We also can’t miss that the decision is about stuff. The abundance of stuff forces them to part. The desire for more and better stuff drives Lot’s decision to go to Sodom. Lot’s captured as the Eastern Alliance collects stuff, the spoils of war. Abram rescues Lot and his stuff. And the king of Sodom offers Abram stuff. And one other thing…Melchizedek blesses both Abram and God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth. In other words, the God who owns all the stuff. Abram knew that. Lot didn’t. And what happens when life becomes about stuff…it captures and enslaves us. It becomes a hard taskmaster because there is never enough. Much better to trust God…”Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Don’t make life about stuff…make it about pursuing God. BTW Abram’s cure for stuff? He gave a tithe, recognizing that God owns all the stuff.

So what about you? Where do you find yourself in this story? Are you like Abram, trusting that God will come through on His promises, that He sees you and knows you and has good in store for you…not good as defined by you, but His good? Do your actions show that you are trusting Him…that you know that it all belongs to Him? Do you know He’s faithful? Realize that even though Lot had to face the consequences of his decision, God was still faithful to deliver him through Abram.

Or are you like Lot, believing that you have to look out for number one, that maybe God knows and sees me, but I don’t know that He cares about my circumstances? I know what’s best for me. But sin has consequences. For Lot, it meant being taken captive, and Uncle Abe has to come bail him out. In 19, we will see that it will cost him everything…home, possessions, position, etc., Living for this present world falls far short of the reason that God saved you. In the same way, when we live in sin as a believer we reap the consequences of the sin we have sown. We are not immune to broken relationships and the fallout from bad choices.

The truth is, most all of us have our tents pitched too close to Sodom…it’s easier to build to towers than altars, to look out for ourselves than wait for God to provide, to image “me” rather than imaging God. But the amazing thing is…God still pursues. He still calls us back. He still invites us into the indescribable adventure of following Him.

My prayer for us is that we would pitch our tents a little closer to Hebron and further from Sodom.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

April 7, 2014

A History-Making Decision

Genesis 11.27-13.1

“What is the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? What made the decision so difficult?” Was it the cost…comfort, convenience? Was it fear of the unknown? Was it the stakes?

God gives Abram a simple (not easy) command…”Go.” Abram was to leave everything he knew – country, relatives and family – to go to an as yet undisclosed location. The blessings that follow are contingent on his going…on his obedience. But his obedience is predicated on faith. So what faith are we talking about? Genesis 3.15. But how does Abram know about Genesis 3.15. Don’t forget that Abram is a direct descendant of Adam through the line of Seth, and of Noah through the line of Shem. He comes from those with a spiritual heritage of calling on the name of the LORD, of walking with God, of believing the Seed promise of 3.15. Much like Noah who was described as righteous and blameless…not because he obeyed, but because he found favor in the eyes of the LORD…he believed the promise of 3.15…so he obeyed, now Abram will be called on to obey because he too has found favor, is righteous through faith. That’s important for us to keep in mind. There can be no obedience without faith.

The call of Abram in Genesis 12.1-3 is a key event in the biblical story. It ranks up there with Genesis 3.15 in the OT. It ties together both creation and redemption…it echoes the creation mandate and carries forward the plan of redemption, the search for the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman. It showcases God’s grace and reveals His heart for His creation. And it’s fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus’ charge to His early followers to “make disciples of all the nations” is a reflection of “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” It would be hard to overstate the importance of this passage.

But God’s call required a response. To experience what God had in store for Abram, he had to step out in obedience. He had to go. He had to be a blessing. For the Israelites to experience the blessings of the covenant at Sinai, they too would have to walk in obedience. That would cost them their comfort and convenience…they too would have to leave what they knew. They would have to embrace the unknown. They would have to risk everything. They would have to give up their definition of good…of doing what was right in their own eyes and trust that what God was calling them to really was good…that it was life. They had to believe that God truly loved them and wanted their good. And they would have to love Him in return.

What would have happened to Abram if he would have refused God’s call? Would he have lost his salvation? Not at all…but he would have lost his destiny. He wouldn’t have experienced the good that God had for him. The trip to Egypt illustrates this truth…Abram was to be a source of blessing to the nations, but he ends up being a source of cursing to Pharaoh. Thankfully not the last word when it comes to Abram.

I appreciate the honesty of a friend of mine who said, “God calls us away from our life and to His life. Something twinges when you say ‘leave comfort and convenience’ I don’t know what it is in me yet, but I need to. I know that fear, jealousy, pride – will keep me living my life. I’m tired of the cliché ‘comfort zone’, but it’s accurate. I need comfort. I need predictability. The life I am drawn to meets my expectations and has very few surprises. Does this sound like the life God calls people to? Noah, Moses, the judges, the prophets, the disciples? God called people to be kings and slaves, warriors and shepherds. But He called them away from themselves. I am convicted that I am, for the most part, living my life, proceeding with my plans, doing what seems right in my own eyes. I don’t want to go blindly after whatever seems to be the opposite direction. I do want to obey. I do want to move in faith to the life God is calling me to. I have set out on journey of faith, but what do I keep dragging around with me. What tethers me to peace? Is is faith or is it my inability to let go completely? Am I creating my own peace and not trusting God’s?”

But what about you? As important as Abram’s call was to the working out of God’s plan in salvation history, Jesus, the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman, calls us all to “Go” or better yet to “Follow”.  And that call is every bit as important on a micro-level as Abram’s call on a macro-level. Jesus calls us to leave our comfort and convenience, to leave what we know, our old life, and follow Him. A simple command, but not an easy one. It means that we have to embrace the unknown. We have to risk everything…but only in this sense: we have to die to defining good in our own eyes and trust in what He has revealed as good. Maybe that’s a new job…maybe building a relationship…maybe making a kingdom investment that financially doesn’t seem to make sense…maybe it’s a call into ministry… Whatever it is, experiencing the good that God wants for you requires obedience. It means taking the risk.

And like Abram…and the Israelites…you will fail. But God is still faithful, and He is patient. Proverbs 24.16: “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” Churchill said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

My prayer for us is that we would the courage, like Abram to take the risk, and enter into the wild adventure of a life spent with Jesus in His kingdom.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

March 24, 2014

Confused

Genesis 10-11

Why are we so fascinated with making a name for ourselves? As I thought about this passage, I wondered why Moses included this story about the tower. Is it simply to explain where the different languages and people groups come from? Surely there is a bigger purpose. He wants to teach the ancient Israelites something about God. So what is Moses trying to teach them and us from this account?

When we try and make a name for ourselves…it is rooted in pride…and what is pride but giving ourselves the worship that God deserves, it’s worshiping ourselves as god. It’s rooted in pride, is often expressed in rebellion and leads to confusion. It confirms our own sinfulness…the truth that every intent of the heart of man is only evil continually. The first recorded group project does not turn out so well…it is a monumental act of rebellion with far reaching consequences. It echoes the sin in the Garden, and the promise that you can be “like God”. The sin of Babel is both pride and rebellion, the making for ourselves a name so that we might be famous. It’s the throwing off of the yoke of obedience and even dependence to declare ourselves sinfully independent. And it’s a refusal to obey God…defining good for ourselves apart from what God has revealed…”Let’s build a tower and a city so that we are not dispersed over the face of the earth.” The effects of the fall from Genesis 3 continue. The root cause of sin was not dealt with in the judgment of the flood, only its effects on people and creation at that time. In addition to Noah and his family and the animals, sin hitched a ride on the boat and continued its reign over mankind and all of creation through Noah and his descendants.

No doubt God judges sin. But even in His judgment we still see His mercy, His amazing, undeserved love. In the shadow of the flood of Genesis 6–8, God could have chosen a much more severe punishment for their sin. Instead He puts a halt to it. Man’s rebellion does not thwart God’s purposes. God acts in sovereign ways to accomplish what He wills. God’s plan for man after the flood was that they multiply and fill the earth. Now they will fill the earth. 

Babel once again highlights the consequences of man’s attempts, through sinful independence, to be his own god.

The cycle continues. God’s faithfulness…our rebellion. The image-bearers failing to image Him, to reflect our perfect, benevolent, beautiful Creator God to His creation. Yet God continues to pursue…the Seed of the Woman. Genesis 3.15.

But what about you? Where do you find yourself building towers, looking for fame, rebelling against God, making a name for yourself? The desire for selfish independence and for god-status is still alive and well. We’re still building towers. But God hasn’t given up on us. Moses reminds us once again that the Seed of the Woman is coming…that He has come in the Person of Jesus, the Son of God, to do what we could not do…provide the way back to God. To conquer sin and death. To restore the image so that we might return to Paradise. That by faith in Jesus, who lived the life that we were supposed to live, totally obedient and dependent on God, who died the death we deserved to die, that through faith in Him we could participate in the most absurd gift exchange in the universe…His righteousness for our sin…so that we can have life…a different kind of life, real life, eternal life with Father God in His kingdom. I don’t understand it, but am amazed by it. I can’t explain it except for God’s incredible, amazing love.

My prayer for us this week is that we recognize our own tower-building tendencies and turn them over to Jesus, the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

March 3, 2014

Brave New World

Genesis 9

So…“Where is your hope found?” As I thought about this passage, I was struck with the two different pictures presented in this chapter. The first picture we have is of God re-upping with His creation. Having destroyed the world with the flood, He makes a covenant with those emerging from the ark never to use the waters of the flood to destroy the earth again. Judgment and mercy…mercy and judgment. God rescuing. God’s faithfulness. Just look at the rainbow.

The second picture is of us blowing it…again. I know. I know. It was Noah’s fault…or maybe Ham’s…no, no, no it was Adam’s. Whatever…given the same circumstances…there but for the grace of God go I. Noah is presented as a second chance…a second Adam. The possible Seed of the Woman. Lamech said it. I mean he’s blameless, he’s the only one righteous in his time, he walks with God… Like Adam, he will be the father of mankind, he will cultivate the ground, and … he will be tripped up by fruit, he will sin and he will be naked and ashamed. The cycle continues.

God’s faithfulness…our rebellion. The image-bearers failing to image Him, to reflect our perfect, benevolent, beautiful Creator God to His creation. Yet God continues to pursue…the Seed of the Woman. Genesis 3.15.

But what about you? Where is your hope found? Even the best of men disappoint. Ultimately they cannot save. They will fail. They will fall. But there is One who can save…One who can rescue. The Head-crushing Seed of the Woman. God will do what we cannot. He will send His own Son to rescue us. The Perfect One who will lay down His life in crushing the serpent. The only One who can bring hope in a brave new world where fear and terror and the fight for survival are the new norm. The only One who can right the wrongs and restore God’s original creation purposes and the good world He made.

My prayer for us this week is that we would not trust in mankind or make flesh our strength, but that we would know that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…that He is our Solid Rock.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

February 24, 2014

The Great Deluge

Genesis 7-8

“­­­How serious do I take sin?” As I reflected on this passage, I couldn’t escape the seriousness and the severity with which God deals with sin in this story. He created a good world…perfect harmony, perfect peace, naked and unashamed, heaven on earth, paradise. And then that world is devastated…it is crushed by man’s rebellion. And sin infects all of creation.

We might ask “Why must all creation suffer for our sin?” Because we were supposed to be the caretakers. We were responsible. And our sin tainted everything. And when we were cursed, so was our dominion. So why the flood? Violence filled the earth instead of the image. Loss of the sons of God. And sin has consequences…serious consequences. End of the world kind of consequences. So much so that God chooses to destroy the good world He had created and start over.

But God remembered Noah. What a powerful statement! In the midst of horrific judgment, mercy still prevails and the search for the Seed will continue. God is not done with His creation. Even when it seemed that all hope might have been lost.

Noah saw first hand not only the devastating effects of sin on his society, he also saw the severity of God’s judgment on that sin. And that glimpse of the consequences of sin against the backdrop of God’s mercy prompted worship.

But what about you? How seriously do you take your sin? Are you aware of its consequences? I believe that it’s only when we see the severity of our sin that we begin to understand God’s amazing grace, and only then can we fully worship. A low view of sin = a low view of grace and vice versa. But my sin and your sin is serious. Its deadly and it necessitated the death of God’s Son…Jesus…the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman. Sin required a death…and not just any death. In order for the guilty to be rescued, to be redeemed, the innocent would have to die in their stead. And so the Perfect One, willingly did just that, He laid down His life so that we could be rescued. He fully took care of the sin problem so that we could have a different kind of life, and so that we could fully represent God’s image as He intended.

My prayer for us this week is that we would take our sin seriously…and that we would take God’s grace seriously…and that that would cause us to worship.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

February 17, 2014

Prelude to Disaster

Genesis 6

“­­­­­Have you ever gotten carried away, you know, caught up in the moment, followed the crowd? Why was that? Good outcome?” As I reflected on this passage, I was reminded of the LORD’s warning to Cain…“And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Sin’s desire is not for our good, but for our destruction.

Sin always takes us further than we want to go. It wants to master and enslave us. It over-promises and under delivers. It seduces and lies to us. It captures us. And it can easily become contagious. The whole premise behind peer pressure or mob mentality. Folks will do things when caught up in a crowd that they would never do alone. Just ask those who had called on the name of the LORD, who walked with God…the descendants of Seth, called the sons of God.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about violence in the context of the first capital murder trial. We said that violence is a physical attempt to eradicate the image of God. And instead of the image of God permeating the earth, violence attempted to erase it. And so God will take drastic measures.

I love that in the midst of the chaos, Noah shines as a beacon of hope. That even in the midst of a world gone haywire its possible to walk with God…that through faith in the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman…he could be considered righteous and blameless. That his unquestioned obedience will lead not only to his own deliverance, but also the rescue of his family and of the animals. It is possible to live a kingdom life in a fallen, corrupt and violent world.

But what about you? Where do you find yourself conforming to the world? Where do you find yourself compromising? What happened to those who once called on the name of the LORD in Noah’s time, the sons of God? They compromised. They began to focus on the earthy rather than the heavenly. They saw that the daughters of men, the daughters of Cain, were beautiful/good. Just like the woman, who looked, saw and took from the forbidden tree, they looked for what pleased them, rather than what pleased God. And the results were disastrous. The most violent, the most cruel, the most powerful become the most famous. Realize that conformity to the world, compromising your walk with God never ends well. But I love that Moses continually reminds us of hope…the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman who will one day come in the Person of Jesus to defeat the serpent, to right the wrongs, to restore the image and lead us back to Creator God.

My prayer for us this week is that we would so walk with God, as Noah did, that we too can resist the allure of the world that invites us to compromise and experience the joy of living lives as kingdom citizens.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster