Month: August 2021

Then they said, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11:3-4 (Genesis 9:18 through chapter 11)

These chapters are the genealogies from Noah to Abraham. In the middle of this ancestry is the story of Babel.  

Noah’s ark settled on top of Mt. Ararat, some 500 hundred miles from its origin. After Noah and his sons disembarked, they gradually returned to the land of Babylonia, long known as “Land of Nimrod.” Nimrod was a powerful, warrior leader and built two cities, Babylon and Nineveh. 100 years after the flood, man is firmly entrenched in their rebellion once again. Determined to worship themselves, pride was the driving force. God said to fill the earth, but the people of Babylon want to remain in one place and become powerful. 

This attempt to build a tower to the clouds was the foundation of a greater sin against God.  These men have set themselves up to go knocking at heaven’s door so they can meet their gods on equal terms. Some say they built the pyramid like tower for worship, others believe they sought to become godlike. God is God and this action and others like it is not acceptable. God separated them, making it impossible to create a conversation, much less a megapolis. These citizens, at the center of the known world, separated according to their languages and went their merry way. The skyscraper remained forever unfinished. 

Babylon is synonymous with the world’s greatest evil and wickedness, but many times God used this nation to accomplish His greater purpose. 

God’s love for man perpetuates His every action. Our response should be enthusiastic, unashamed obedience and unrestrained worship and joy. There is judgement and consequence for sin, but this is not the fate of those who choose to follow The One True God. 

Have a Great Thursday,

Gretchen

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.  Genesis 5:24 (Genesis chapters 5-9)

In five chapters we have seen ten generations of man come and go. It is an important line of decent. Enoch was the father of Methuselah, who holds the world’s record for longevity (969 years). He was also Noah’s human connection to the Garden of Eden. Man’s image was now marred, mankind had become abominable in God’s eyes. Enoch and his son’s life times overlapped Adam and Methuselah was a contemporary of Noah. Through Enoch and Methuselah, Noah had a direct human connection to Adam. Methuselah died the year of the flood.

Even with the righteousness of Enoch and Noah, God acted in judgement against man and destruction was let loose. In his act of meticulous obedience, Noah became the source of survival for all living things.  God makes a covenant with Noah that extended to all humanity. In the rainbow we have the promise that complete annihilation by flood will never happen again. God also restates that man is created in His image and murder will not be tolerated.

Noah and Enoch are men that are remembered for following and honoring the One True God.  Their obedience was faith based and God’s response was deliverance.  Enoch did not die, but was ‘taken away’, and Noah lived while all the humanity perished.

Faith Matters!

Gretchen

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. Genesis 4:7  (Genesis chapters 3 & 4)

The servant, crafty as he was/is, brought into question the goodness of God. Does God really have our best interest at heart? Or is He just being a tormenting, lying bully? Satan was successful and brought sin, pain, toil and death to mankind. Creation was reversed, harmony disrupted. With banishment from the garden, Adam and Eve were cut off from ‘the tree of life’. Without God’s intervention, immediate separation for all eternity was man’s fate. 

Cain brought a sacrifice to God, but something about this act of worship didn’t ring true. The sin in Cain’s heart became the sin in Cain’s action and his offering was rejected. He was reminded of God’s omnipotent knowledge and authority, and implored to resist rebellion and simply obey.  

The Bible story reveals over and over that God’s plan is Grace and Mercy and the restoration of man to the likeness of God. Sin has come, but it’s not the end of the story by any means! Man’s natural state is driven to self centered behavior, but God calls us to choose obedience. It is not impossible, but a choice, a very, very important, deliberate choice. 

Love,

Gretchen

The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  Genesis 2:7  (Genesis chapters 1& 2)

The primitive cultures that came about after man’s sin all have creation myths, attempts to explain the unexplainable. They each involve conflict and struggle. God’s creative act is voluntary, effortless and rational. There was nothing and then there was everything. His proclamation that “It is good.” confirms God’s active participation in the beginning and his will to perpetuate all living things and the home that provides for them. 

It was man that God ‘breathed’ into existence. He spoke and created all other things, but took something of Himself and gave us life and identity. Humanity is God’s crowning creation, but expand further; Adam was placed in the garden as its caretaker, then God ordained the seventh day, a sabbath, to establish a specific time of Holy, single minded communion between Creator and created, with no other distractions. God designed us to rest and restore by means of appropriate communion and worship.

Many times throughout the Story of God and His love for us, creation is referenced to show God’s authority and ability to keep order in a world turned chaotic by sin. If God can order the universe and speak things into being, then He can handle the issues that weigh us down. The world around may have the appearance of ‘coming from together,’ but God is faithful, able and willing to exert His loving authority to keep you in perfect peace. 

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing                                                                                                        Isaiah 40:26 

Trust Him, it works every time.

Love,

Gretchen

2 Corinthians 5:7  For we live by faith, not by sight.

God is always willing to reveal Himself to you when you seek Him, but remember, the point isn’t for God to prove Himself to you so you never have to have faith.  We must have faith that guides us where our sight cannot go, for example:  The future!

August is the anniversary month for my blog.  Five years ago I began writing and it’s been an exciting pleasure to share each day with you. Thank you for reading.  

Each journey around the sun sort of starts and ends for me each August, for as a professional educator, it is my new year, a time of reflection and new commitment to greater heights and goals. I have prayed and feel called to shift my direction slightly in the coming year. Monday, August 16, I will begin working my way through the Bible in chronological order.  In ministry I have discovered a struggle to keep the Story of God in historical order and while this is not necessary to victorious Christian living, so many new insights fall into place when understood from an ordered perspective. 

My daily writings will still be short and sweet with occasional suggestions for further study. I hope you will join me.

You are all so loved and it is always a comfort to know that just as we are all under the same big sky, we are also in The Word together and we are always in the majority together when we are facing down the Evil One.

Blessings,

Gretchen

2 Corinthians 5:7  For we live by faith, not by sight.

God is always willing to reveal Himself to you when you seek Him, but remember, the point isn’t for God to prove Himself to you so you never have to have faith.  We must have faith that guides us where our sight cannot go, for example:  The future!

August is the anniversary month for my blog.  Five years ago I began writing and it’s been an exciting pleasure to share each day with you. Thank you for reading.  

Each journey around the sun sort of starts and ends for me each August, for as a professional educator, it is my new year, a time of reflection and new commitment to greater heights and goals. I have prayed and feel called to shift my direction slightly in the coming year. Monday, August 16, I will begin working my way through the Bible in chronological order.  In ministry I have discovered a struggle to keep the Story of God in historical order and while this is not necessary to victorious Christian living, so many new insights fall into place when understood from an ordered perspective. 

My daily writings will still be short and sweet with occasional suggestions for further study. I hope you will join me.

You are all so loved and it is always a comfort to know that just as we are all under the same big sky, we are also in The Word together and we are always in the majority together when we are facing down the Evil One.

Blessings,

Gretchen

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17

Collosae’s church came under fire from cultural entanglements that wanted to blend themselves with Christianity in the name of philosophy, enlightenment and tradition. The proper name for this phenomenon is ‘syncretism.’  It looks good on paper and in theory, but it is opposition to truth. 

Paul emphasizes the intimate, individual relationship Christians must have with one another and their Savior. The roots of who you are and are growing to be must be anchored in a risen Christ. The ‘theologians’ of Colossae wanted the church to believe that God had given them mystical, secret insight, thus granting a special authority to them only. This is a huge warning!!!!! For all who seek, find. God is a loving, personal God. 

God alone provides and nurtures. If we believe this, it will become who we are in word and deed.  Our response is gratitude, because God is Good all the time.

Have a Great Weekend!

Gretchen

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:15

In contrast to the wife of Lot, (Genesis chapter 19) who could not turn loose of the life that was destroying her, this woman at Jacob’s well had no idea the world had anything to offer other than sin, despair, misery, repeat……sin, despair, misery, repeat. Then she met Jesus.  

The road through Samaria, rather than around, was a short cut to Galilee from Jerusalem. Religious and racial prejudice made this an uncomfortable walk most would not take. It was uncommon for a Jew to venture through this land, but Jesus wasn’t intimidated, and when the woman came along, probably expecting to be treated with less respect than a stray dog, (It was normal social protocol.) she was surprised to be addressed with a request.

Jesus, being the Son of God and all, knew this woman had a horrible moral problem, but He didn’t offer her judgement. Instead, He had a foolproof solution.  Repent, sin no more and be sure to tell everyone who will listen.

Jesus did not live by the norms of the world.  He went places others were hesitant to travel. He was kind when cruelty was the order of the day. He was patient when other’s had no time to spare and He touched and healed when no one would go within a mile to help.  It’s the Gospel story over and over, LOVE BRAVELY! It really will change the world one life at a time.

Happy Thursday,

Gretchen

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26  

Lot was Abraham’s nephew. Abraham took him under his wing when his own father died a young man. Lot accompanied Abraham and Sarah as they left the land of their childhoods and traveled to Canaan and then on to Egypt. Both Abraham and Lot prospered and finally had to divide their household and go their separate ways.  As they chose their directions, Lot picked a fertile area along the Jordan River including the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Evil was rampant in these urban areas, but Lot and his wife chose to remain and make Sodom their home. Wickedness veils itself in beauty, sin comes knocking as tremendous opportunity and debauchery appears innocent. They loved it, totally and completely, to the extent the virtue of their daughters was threatened and their very lives were balancing between life and death. When Abraham prayed for their salvation and God answered, the angels that went to rescue them had to drag them kicking and screaming out of danger at the very last minute possible.  

Lot’s wife just couldn’t let go of the life she lusted for. She looked back to the past rather than the future and she died, frozen in her desire for the lights, glamour and excitement of destruction.

This story is not about looking back or forward. It is about wanting evil over Holiness. Your body follows the direction you face is turned. I recommend some Sonshine.

Love,

Gretchen

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

Things from childhood echo in my head: Mother imploring my three siblings and me to just get along is one resounding echo. She did not desire to remain in a constant state of kangaroo court, sorting out who was right, wrong, the offended and the offender. It was an impossible, unpleasant task. Four young children needed to take it upon themselves to become active participants in peace making and keeping.

Jesus begins His Galilean ministry with the opening comments we call the ‘B’ attitudes. With this teaching Jesus turns man’s common presumption of entitlement upside down and begins to paint a perfect likeness of God. The disciples considered this list to be as important as the Ten Commandments. The Bible equates peace with prosperity. If we want a part in a future of glorious hope, then we must invest in Godliness today.

God doesn’t play give and take, keeping score to appropriate favor/blessing. He has a standard and boundaries that protect His supreme creation, you and me, designed in love. Peace is not a destination, it is a life style. When our actions honor our Savior, others will follow.

Love,

Gretchen