LAYING THE GROUNDS FOR MURDER

LAYING THE GROUNDS FOR MURDER

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Ephesians [ESV] 1:16 – 2:10 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ [Rom.5:8]—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

  This morning using e-Sword concordance search I reviewed our beginnings and next read found verses on Cain and Abel in OT and NT. Then I began pondering ….

  From Eden on we are individually responsible before the Jehovah God Almighty for our thinking, decisions, and actions. This truth is found throughout His Word. This accountability includes evil  influencers, “the prince of the power of the air”, and others that present opportunities for thinking, deciding and acting contrary to honoring and glorifying the Lord by faith; loving Him and our fellow man. Environment perfect or otherwise matters comparatively little for it is individual in whatever circumstance that trusts God, or not. This truth is found throughout His Word.

  Adam and Eve lived as no others in man’s elapsed history. Eden was pleasant, safe, with simple clarity of purpose. Had Eve then Adam not, wanting more, deviated from trusting God I believe you and I may still be living in kind . . . unless of course we too decided for Satan’s sales pitch and then noshing on the bitter fruit of disobedience.

  Among the many results they suffered we are yet troubled with unto this day and shall experience until Lord Jesus Christ returns: pain physical and emotional, parental angst, male/female parity that became gender inequality, murder, and more as mankind has continued expansively in disobedient defiance against the King of Kings, our creator and sustainer.

  It would have been far better if the first family had trusted Jehovah, but that is done and past. What remains is our individual time to now think, decide, and act as did His Son, in accordance with the Father’s will, or not; autonomous self in opposition to God continuing to lay the groundwork for murder of every sort including the bits and pieces of Eden that we have remaining.

EBB4