The influence of Bible women is more widespread than we may think. Take Mother Eve as the prime example, the most influential female in human history. All the generations, of every kind, have lived, and continue to live till Jesus returns, in the result of her sin against God’s word.
However, Adam in her name established a useful model for all mankind to follow when things go bad in life, and nothing can change it. It’s found in Genesis 3:20. “Adam named his wife Eve—meaning Living—because she would become the mother of all the living.” In other words, what to do when problems rise with no solution, death occurs to those we love, disagreements occur between friends, people trusted with our secrets seem to betray us, etc., etc.? Get on with what is left…disregarding what is gone. Don’t become a victim of a mistake, a sin, a failure, an argument. As the old song said, “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.” Take Paul’s advice if you feel wronged: accept the wrong without brooding over it and turning it into vengeance I Corinthians 6:7-8. Do not take refuge in the old canard, “If he apologizes, I’ll forgive”. Take rather the scriptural approach Jesus taught in Matthew 18:15-20: the offended party, not the offender, takes the initiative in resolving the issue. Then, if not resolvable, repeat the process with widening authority involved. Remember the spiritual truth Paul taught in Ephesians 4:32….”forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”. And how did God forgive? Romans 5:10-11 emphasizes that God expressed his love to us while we were sinners; again, God took the initiative. In summary, first don’t let anger tear you to pieces Job 18:4; second, remember what we experience in failed relationships and goals is a common possession of all people; third, forget what happened and get on with life; fourth, do not spend energy on regret or revenge that is better spent devoted to rebuilding life; fifth, accept more of the blame for what happened than you have coming; and give more credit to the other person than he deserves; sixth, and last, always let the Holy Spirit in us surface our better, and diminish our lesser, nature. Increase our deeper and decrease our shallow nature. Trust Christ’s ability to make us VICTORS, not our native willingness to be VICTIMS. He made us more than conquerors; don’t let yourself be the OVERCOME! Thanks, Father Adam for keeping what hadn’t been lost by your sin. Thanks, Mother Eve; for all the damage you caused, you left us a positive model for responding to the bad things in life.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|