Journal 2-26-14

"In the Beginning"

• Genesis 1:31 - "and God saw every thing that He had made and behold it was very good..."
• Genesis 1:27 - "So God created man in His own image..."
• Genesis 3:10 - "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself." 
• Genesis 3:11 - Who told you that you were naked?
• Romans 5:12 - "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.."
• Genesis 3:21 - And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

     Lately I've been reading parts of the Bible that normally I would never read and surprisingly, they are very interesting and I'm learning that the Bible is like a big puzzle. You just have to put it together and the more pieces you snap together the more it makes sense and all those boring Old Testament chapters become equally important! Huh, who would have thought it? In reading some of the verses above, I've learned something I think and I have a few points I want to try to make that I think I am correct on. If I make a mistake it's because I haven't read all of it yet.

     First of all, has anybody ever met or heard of anybody who wondered if God really existed or if we just evolved from nothing? In Genesis it says God created us in His image. Right. Ok. First thing I learned this morning is we humans, in the likeness of God, have a conscience! We have the ability to feel guilt, shame, and nakedness (v. 10). The dummies of the world say we evolved from apes, monkeys, or something like that! You ever watched a monkey in the zoo? He's butt naked and not messed up about it. He picks his nose in public and acts plum retarded. I've watched them throw poop, food, and holler and scream like "animals" do many times with no look of guilt or shame! Do you think that Adam would have recognized He had something to be ashamed of if he was once a monkey? Would we be able to have a conscience if God wasn't involved in our creation? No! And further more, if we evolved from monkeys all my girlfriends would be harry and I mean super harry and not nice and smooth, Hunter.

     My point being kiddos, if you ever doubt God is real or there, just look around you! He's put His signature on everything and I'm pretty sure humans are His creation with a conscience of right or wrong. That being said, this leads me to my next new discovery and truth. You ever wondered why in the Old Testament they were always killing goats and bulls to cover their sins? Well little one's, I am 42 and I just learned that it's symbolic of what happened in the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve first sinned. They were "good" (v. 31) and God made them so that they were able to feel guilt, unlike monkeys. Since they had shame for doing bad, they hid from God the Father. Have you ever hidden or felt guilty about something you did that you knew was wrong? I have and today I know that it's because I was never a monkey, but always a human with a conscience because God made me like Him. 

     The reason I think they used to kill goats is because when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and felt bad about it, they needed to hide their guilt, shame, or nakedness. So He killed an animal and covered their sins with the skins of that animal. Clothes. Throughout the Old Testament, people daily killed animals to get forgiveness from God. God saw at some point that this was not going to cut it so He sent Jesus to the world to intervene and He also died for us to save us or cover us from the sin of the world. He died so that we could live forever with God in a place like "heaven" with no nakedness, guilt, or shame for the sins we have committed. If we all really evolved like animals from dirt or micro organisms why would all this be necessary? It makes no sense! 

     My point- we should live our lives every day to be as pleasing and righteous before our God, our Creator, our Father because He loves us and wants to spend time with us forever in heaven. Not monkeys! 

Prayer: Father God, thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ to die for my sins so that I could live forever. Thank you Lord for making me aware of the wonderful things you have in the recent months. I can only imagine how wonderful the next years of my life will be with you by my side. I can't believe what has happened in just 5 months. Thanks man, I love you. Amen.

Thoughts: How many times I have said or thought I was living right and going to heaven but something inside of me really had doubt because of my conscience. "If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness (sin) we lie and do not practice truth" (1 John 1:6). I have been guilty of that numerous times in my life and I think that's where the doubt came from I spoke of above. When we lie, God tells us about it because it is sin and we can not "live" with sin in our lives. That's the difference in humans and all other creation. We were created with a conscience so we would be able to listen to God. I've been listening to God lately and trying to hear Him daily, talking with Him and doing what He tells me to do. In so many ways He's revealed Himself real to me! Things I can't speak of right now but amazing stuff. When it actually comes to pass and the check is in the bank I'll let you know. God is providing a way for me to live for Him and be happy with that. There are so many places that it says in the Bible if you follow the things of God you will be blessed immensely and it's the ones that live in the darkness that can't believe it because it's dark and the light isn't on. So get out of the darkness and step into the light so that the Lord can share some of His goodness with you too!