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Genesis 2:17 “…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.”
Oh Adam and Eve… how you remind me of my children! “You can do all this, but don’t do that...it won’t be good for you, you won’t be safe.” I try to tell Loriko all the time, I’m only telling you not to do ________, because I want you safe, and because I love you. Isn’t that the whole purpose in God giving His words to us? He wants us to know, he wants us safe, with him, and just like Loriko, we still step out and play with danger, climbing to our demise, growing further and further from our father out of rebellion, when we know full well what He has said, what we should do and often times knowing the consequences. We don’t learn do we? The other day Loriko asked for a balloon. I blew it up for him and gave it to him. He proceeded to take it over to something somewhat sharp, that he knew would make it pop and said “I know a good idea, I’m going to pop this balloon and wake daddy up” (Andy works nights, so he sleeps in the day). I said “I don’t think that would be a good idea” knowing he’s going to be sad and if he does wake up his daddy then he’ll be in trouble, time out for sure. And….POP, he did it, and fell to the floor in pieces, Loriko not the balloon. He cried for 20 minutes I kid you not. (Honestly, I kinda wanted to laugh…my mercy may not be quite as big as God’s.) He asked me to blow it back up, asked for another (which we didn’t have) asked me to fix it, “pleeeeeease mommmy!!”. Then he wanted me to go take one from the neighbor who had some on her mailbox after celebrating a birthday. We know, we know full well, and yet there’s this compulsion to rebel and do it anyway. And then the consequences set in and we want to blame God and shake our fist at him. The consequences of our sin are far worse of course than the consequences of popping a balloon. But that instant we do it, something changes. Right Eve? Right Adam? Right Riko? We feel it, the shame, the regret, the eyes of “I told you so”, the fear, the guilt, the loss.But, there’s this blessed hope! I reminded Loriko he will get a do over another day, there will be more balloons and next time he will know. But the BIG hope is that day, when if we’ve confessed and asked for forgiveness we will stand before God, the book will be opened and as Max Lucado says in his book ‘Grace for the Moment;’ “God's merciful verdict will echo through the universe. For the first time in history, we will understand the depth of His goodness. Itemized grace. Catalogued kindness. Registered forgiveness. We will stand in awe as one sin after another is proclaimed and then pardoned.” Praise God there’s hope, praise God for His mercy! Praise God we get do over after do over! Praise God for His “Itemized Grace” and “Catalogued Kindness”.
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March 2023
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