Dear Disciples of Christ,
If you have a problem with your taxes, do you call an accountant or your plumber? Water is pouring from your ceiling – do you call your plumber or your doctor? If you need heart surgery, you’ll call the cardiologist, right? The answers seem obvious. You call the expert and follow their directions.
Following directions. When we do, it often works out – especially if the direction-giver is an expert in their field.
Unfortunately, humans can tend to ignore expert directions to follow guidance that sounds better to them. This isn’t new. It’s what got us all in trouble in the beginning. God, the Creator and ultimate expert in His creation, gave Adam one command, “Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge-of-good-and-evil or you’ll die!” (Genesis 2:17) Adam passed the word to Eve. Eve repeated it to the serpent as he tried to get her to eat from that tree. Then the serpent said, “You will surely not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5) Eve ignored God’s expert directions; she followed the snake, a creature serving Satan’s interests, and its advice. Her disobedience – and Adam’s failure to stop her – allowed sin and death into the world. Just like God said.
When God speaks, we need to listen. He’s the expert in all things, seen and unseen. Immediately after sin and death entered His good creation, God made a promise. He said to the serpent, “I will put (hatred) between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” (Genesis 3:15 (NIV)) This good news is God’s promise to destroy Satan’s power to kill and destroy. God did this through the woman’s offspring, the Son of God. As we find ourselves trapped in sin, let us rejoice in knowing God has rescued us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Let us trust God, the expert in all things, in all things.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jim