The flood comes. Noah is instructed to put animals into the ark and prepare for the end of civilization. Noah and his family were selected because of Noah's righteousness. Why do you think that there were no other righteous people on the earth? What caused all of humanity to be bad...the fruit of the tree of wisdom? the Cain- Abel murder? the mistrust that probably propagated as a result of these things? How do you feel about the righteousness of humanity in these contemporary days? What is God thinking now? How would you talk to God about the state of humanity today? God vows never to destroy the earth again, with the closing statement of "...the intent of peoples' heart is evil from their youth..." (Genesis 8:21). What are your thoughts about that? Do you think people are born to do evil and then need to be "trained" to do good...or are people born good and then trained to be "evil"?
Paul talks to the people of Ephesus and comments that we are to be patient, gentle, and tolerant of all people since we are of the same Spirit (4:2). Did God act that way in the time of Noah's flood? Was God tolerant, patient? How patient and tolerant are you when someone goes against you? Think about how you respond to your children? your neighbor? your spouse? your significant other?
Paul continues and talks about the walk of the Christian-- its difficult at times to be a good person, but we all need to work at it. Speak the truth, be honest, act in love, temper your anger and carry on conversations with those around you to clear up misconceptions and unclear thoughts. Being a Christian is not easy; people look to us as they way to act and respond, but we do not always respond the "right" way! Why is it so tough? "We may be the only Bible people read" was a statement I found while I was researching for a message a few weeks ago. I think that's what Paul is saying here. When people see you, what kind of Bible are they reading? When people look to you, what do people see?
Friday's readings: Psalm 8, Genesis 9-10, Ephesians 5
Just got caught up on all the readings. We had some germs in the house. Hopefully that is it for the year. I know I read in one of my classes that man lives in the flesh and sins. While I don't think children are "evil" they are selfish. I've always thought that is how kids are. But as parents we do teach them to think of others and to be compassionate. Would they do that without us teaching them that? I would like to think so but maybe they wouldn't. It could definitely be a good lengthy discussion.
ReplyDeleteI did find Ephesians 4 26-27 something to make note of. " Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry. For anger gives a foothold to the devil" Chris told me once his grandma told him to never go to bed angry. I imagine this is where it came from. There is a quote that I see from time to time. "Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God, will come to know God because they know you"
My great grandmother also taught the saying- never go to bed angry. It is difficult sometimes to uphold that, but continue to strive for it. Proverbs 29:11 says, "A fool always loses their temper, but a wise person holds it back." Similar situation!
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