The Bittersweet Paradox

Sadly, my Bible has gone missing. I was going to grab one from the bookshelf at home yesterday morning, and I ended up grabbing my dad's old retired Bible. My dad used to pastor a church when I was a tiny child, and as I opened up this old Bible, I found his sermon notes from February of 1983! How cool! (Random side note...my father was a mere 26 years old in February of 1983...it's hard to believe that anyone anywhere close to my age already had children). From what I can tell, the sermon is about Adam and Eve, God's original intention for man, the fall, and the resulting chaos in the hearts of man. Anyway, I was at lunch perusing these notes, and he said some way cool stuff. I will share.

"God has always intended for man to be more than a creature, His servant. God has always intended for man to have fellowship with Him as a prized possession. We are designed to enjoy the honor that befits a resident of heaven. A child of the great King."

"Sin separates from God--totally. Position with God has tremendous benefits--and having lost that position, man has been trying to get those benefits back in different ways ever since."

"Consider the actions, desires, and needs of the non-Christian. It seems to me that almost everything people do is out of the desire to feel important. A person puts on a show of pride and arrogance, trying to convince others that he is important. A young lady or man will become involved in a promiscuous relationship because they want to feel loved. To be loved is to be important. Every sin seems to be a perverse way a person uses to try to feel important or it is a reaction that comes from the way someone feels when he feels unimportant."

"The one who created man with honor and dignity to begin with has made steps to restore it. Eph 2"

"Our place--seated with Him--a place of honor, can you think of a more honored seat?"

"We can't feel at home in this world because we are above it. That's why it is such a tragedy for a Christian to sin...we live above this world so our standards of living are above the world."

"The Bible tells us to be humble, but only a person who understands his position with God has the courage to be humble."

It really does go on...I won't bore you with continued references. Seriously, though. Good stuff.

I've been thinking especially of the quote about man needing to feel important, and I've been hard pressed to think of a sin one commits that is not because that man was trying to convince himself or others of his importance, or was reacting sinfully because his sense of importance had been violated. Not that that excuses sin, but it certainly helps explain it. It makes me think hard about how I treat others. Clearly God has created us with an inborn need to feel important. I want to help people feel important, but more than that, I want to help show them their true importance in Christ.

Preach it, dad!

Awesome stuff from your pops, Alex. I've discovered some of my dad's old sermon notes too, and they really do make you think.

Food for thought that since we are above this world, our standards of living in this world need to be above it as well.

~~Becki

that is cool, when my grandma, passed away I was given a bible of hers and in the back she had written her name (she wasn't married at the time) and it said Barbara Reasonover loves John Louis...which is cool, because John Louis's last name is Higbee...

It's cool finding stuff like that!

Shouldn't you be working at 9:42 a.m. on Tuesday morning?

Dad