Living or Walking?

Gen 5:7 - And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years...
Gen 5:10 - And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years...
Gen 5:13 - And Cainan lived after he begat Mahaleel eight hundred and forty years...
Gen 5:16 - And Mahaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years...
Gen 5:19 - And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years...
Gen 5:22 - And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years...

I posted a while back about how I was amazed that Enoch was faithful to walk with God for 300 years. But now I want to contrast what the Bible says about Enoch vs. the rest of his forefathers.
First of all, we notice that they all "lived." That's profound. They had breath; they walked around; they related with other people. They lived. We don't know much about their lives other than they procreated. However, Enoch did not just "live." Enoch did more than that; he "walked with God." His life was not wasted, but rather was spent in communion with God. What a great example.

Second, we notice the lengths of their lives. 807, 815, 840, 830, 800... that's how many years Enoch's forefathers "lived." Now, when we get to Enoch, we find that after he begat Methuselah, he only was around for 300 years. Why would God take him at such a young age? (I mean really, 365 years old is not that old!?) It reminds me of a quote from Jim Elliot (who, coincidentally, died on this date in 1956 (thanks Pastor Curran for the reminder), written in his journal:

God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus. (1948)

Are we willing to give up just "living" and actually spend our days on earth faithfully "walking with God"? And if that requires that God takes us earlier... are we ok with that? Jim Elliot recognized that the length of life was not as important as the quality of the walk with God. Enoch knew it too. Let's learn it.

Just a thought...

Giving In...

Ok, Fine, I'll give in to all the hype!

You should check out Barone's new blog site: www.PrayForItaly.com

I wonder what everyone's thoughts are on a missionary doing something like that. Is it a waste of time? Is it a good way to keep awareness up? What other thoughts do you have?

As always (Oh wait, I forgot that I hadn't posted in forever, and probably don't have any readers, let alone returning ones...), Anonymous posts are welcome.

Conceived of the Holy Ghost

Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Happy New Year, everyone! I have started my new reading plan today, and when I read this verse that last phrase jumped out at me: "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Now, I know Christmas was last week, and we all know the actual point of this verse is that Jesus was born of a virgin. But, it made me ask myself: What in me is conceived of the Holy Ghost?

I mean, I desire to do things for God. I desire to please Him. Mary was also a "good" woman. She was a faithful, pure (though not sinless), devoted follower of God. But, even still, the best thing in her life was that which was conceived of the Holy Ghost.

So, my desire is that this year, we will be driven by the Spirit, and that ALL (lofty goal?) that we do would be conceived and driven of the Holy Ghost.

Just a New Year's thought...

Merry Christmas - Morning

Merry CHRISTmas, everyone. As we celebrate the birth of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, may we keep His example of humiliation and love for others in our thoughts.

I was thinking this morning, as I was awaken earlier than I desired, how much I wish I was as excited for the things of God as children are for Christmas. My kid woke up all by themselves today, without Mommy and Daddy needing to go tell them that it was time to get up. Now, if this were a Sunday morning, and it was time to get up for church, it would have taken quite a bit longer to wake them up!

I wish that I was so excited in the morning about being able to spend time in God's word, to commune with Him, to spend my day representing the God of gods to this world, as people get about waking up to presents.

Anyway, Merry Christmas. I hope today is a day of revival in our lives as we adore the Person who was laid in a lowly manger and is coming again quickly!

Just a Christmas thought...

Funny - sort of

I know I haven't blogged in a while, and now I come to you with this, but I couldn't resist:

God Is... Holy

Friday night at Home Bible Study we looked at the topic of temptation and how Jesus dealt with it when He was tempted by the devil. I'll save some of the details of the lesson for another day's post, but the attribute that we see of God when we talk about temptation is that God is holy.

I wish I could get a grasp on the holiness of God. He has absolutely no tolerance for sin. He does not allow the smallest, most seemingly insignificant sin to go overlooked. Uzzah touching the ark of the covenant to keep it from falling, caused him to die. Adam taking a bite out of a piece of fruit caused a world of trouble - just taking a bite! Giving to the church, but claiming that they gave a greater percentage than they did, caused Ananias and Sapphira to be killed. Some children mocking the prophet of God because of his bald head, caused God to bring two bears to kill the children.

Some of those examples, we would see as being so ridiculously insignificant. I mean, really, so some people make a joke about one of God's men - and He has them killed? (Um, maybe I better watch what I say about any preacher - not just the ones I like.) God is pure from absolutely any sin. He is not the author of sin, and He will never allow sin in His presence! So much that He even turned away from His Son when Jesus bore all of my sins on the tree. Thank You, Jesus for that.

I think we could all take a step back, consider those things which God hates, take a look at our lives and find some stuff to clean up. And you know those little things, that you know aren't right, but they're just small... well, they're not small in God's eyes. Those little things caused Jesus to go to the cross as much as the big. I mean really, it was simply a bite of fruit that required it. How "small" is your sin compared to that?

"Be ye holy, for I am holy."

Just a thought...

God Is... Calm

The economy is collapsing. The war in Afghanistan is getting worse. Iran broke away from the international nuclear agency and is working on developing nuclear weapons. Gas prices are so high. If the democrats win, they'll want to grant the same "civil rights" to gay couples as to married men and women... and Winter is coming!

There are many things which could be cause for worry and concern for us. My work-life has been quite out of control the past couple weeks, and it looks like it will stay that way for a couple more weeks if not months. It is Crazy! Pandemonium! Hectic! If I believed in stress, I think I'd be facing it right now.

The good news though, is that we have a God that is calm. God does not get all worked up when He sees the problems that we cause in this world. He is not biting His nails, wondering what will happen next. True, He does know in detail what's coming up, so I guess He has an unfair advantage in that area. But our God is calm - in the sense that He's not worried. (I couldn't think of a better antonym for "worried." Anyone else think of a better?) So, as we focus on God more and more, and recognize His sovereignty and His power, we will see that He is calm and collected. Then we can and should be just as calm, just as careful for nothing, knowing that all things work together for good to them that love God.

Take it easy, Andy...

Just a thought...