Words Creating Space

This is our 4th and final Advent Devotion in our series and we appreciate the support we’ve received from our readers. We’re learning a lot through writing and posting our thoughts on Scripture, but it is our deepest desire that you be able to live out your faith – that you be able to take Scripture in and translate it out into action. I know that writing this has caused a change to occur in me as I respond to disappointment in my life.

This morning I learned that some of our family members would not be able to come visit us over Christmas and I was beginning to feel sadness and disappointment well up inside of me. I had just written this Advent Devotion on Jesus as the Second Adam yesterday but had not posted it. I had really enjoyed writing this devotion as it reminded me of God’s amazing plan in providing Jesus who gave His life to reverse the curse of Adam’s sin, and in accomplishing that, He was able to continue His plan for us that was set from the beginning of time. I was caught up in the realization that nothing can change God’s goodness and His plans for us. I felt very secure in this and knew in my heart that God is fully for me – He is for each person ever created and He is FOR YOU, reader. Then, this morning happened…

I think a big reason for our writing is to address what happens in our hearts, as believers, when pain, disappointment and suffering enter our lives. There’s the temptation to grab hold of big lies which enter into our minds as part of a knee jerk reaction. Our first inclination is to think that we are alone, no one cares and that we better reach for something right away to make us feel better. I was not immune from these feelings, even after writing just yesterday about what was true about God and how He is FOR US. Let this reality SUPERSEDES all other realities or circumstances you may find yourself in today.  I’m not saying this is easy, or automatic, but as believers, it is what we need to be aiming for. If you find yourself in an emotional upheaval, cry out to God and ask Him to supply at that moment what you can’t do for yourself. What follows are my words from yesterday that I find I really need today.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 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.” The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”
Genesis 2:15-22 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.2.15-22.NIV

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”
Romans 5:17 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.5.17.NIV

You were made for more. At the beginning of creation, you were formed to have dominion over, not to be dominated. You were formed to cultivate, not to tear down. You were created for freedom, not for slavery. When life hands you circumstances that change the course you’re on or limit the choices you are able to make, fill your soul with this realization – you were made for more – and live into this realization.  

In the garden of Eden, God gave humanity dominion over everything that moves upon the earth as well as over everything that grows upon the earth, with ONLY ONE exception, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do you realize even the tree of life was not originally declared off-limits to mankind? This abundance of provision from God evidenced His posture towards you and towards me. God is FOR us! This abundance is what we were made to enjoy.  With the Fall, the abundant life in the Garden became unavailable.  Adam and Eve could not go back and get a re-do.  The glorious life they experienced ever so briefly will be ours when we’re reunited with God.  BUT . . . 

We have Jesus, in the here and now.  God gave Himself so that we could enjoy what was started through creation so long ago. Through Christ, we have the power to enjoy the role of cultivator, and are able to have right relationships with others that don’t involve dominion over but actually empower us and others to live into and enjoy our God-given gifts–a new kind of abundance.  Yet, we need to realize that the sin that existed in the Garden still threatens to undo us. The goodness behind all of creation is singularly found in God and nowhere else. It is when we think we can generate our own goodness in a manner equal to that of God’s that we get off track and actually enslave ourselves and bring others with us in the process. We become our own worst enemies and desecrate what was created to glorify and reflect God.

In Christ, we now stand under grace. What sin did in severing mankind’s unhindered communion with God, Jesus’ birth did in repairing and reuniting us to our Completer. May you reflect the grace you have received from God and help others to believe that the God of all creation is for them as well. Help them to believe that the brokenness we experience now was not the way it originally was meant to be and that one day, we will realize God’s full intentions of completion in Him and live fully free and productive lives. 

We hope you have enjoyed our four weekly devotions that have taken an element of creation and associated it to Jesus as that element’s ultimate fulfillment. Through sharing our thoughts, we hope you have realized God’s good intentions towards you, which have existed before the beginning of time, and that you will have more reason to worship Jesus this Christmas season. We pray that you have grown in trust in God, as you realize that He desires to give Himself to you, and will withhold no good thing from you in the process. This is not easy, or automatic, but as believers, it is what we need to be aiming for. May we all stop looking for something better to complete us and be fully satisfied in Him. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift of Jesus Christ!