Being the last of three daughters, I was a suprise to my parents who were being very cautious about not having any more children. At the age of 30 my mother found out she was expecting her third child, and not very happy about it at that. All my life growing up I was constantly reminded how I was not planned for and consequently not really wanted. But thank goodness I was a good baby and actually turned out to be the best thing that ever came along. But, having this thought in the back of my head, it kind of formed the way I grew up. I actually believed that I was a "mistake" and therefore should not have been born in the first place. Where do misfits fit in? I know that my mother did not mean to instill these thoughts in me but they did have a major role in my self confidence.
It wasn't until a couple of years ago actually that I came to realize that I was not a mistake, and even though I came as a big surprise to my partents, I was called forth to become something by a God who knows us even before we are formed in our mother's womb.
I now know that life is not a secret, God has a plan for each and every one of us. How do I know this you may ask. Once I became saved, I started getting strong in the Word of God and He has answers to every question we may ever have. The answer to what my purpose is and yours too for that matter can be found in the book of Ephesians.
Ephes. 1:4 According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
Ephes. 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
This tells us that He chose us even before He formed the earth so that we would be holy and set apart to fellowship with Him. He has us picked out to become heirs of His kingdom through His Son Christ should we choose to be His child through adoption.
As He created the first man and woman in His own image, He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over every living creature on earth. Just what is the image of God? His image is shown through all His attributes which are Love, Gentleness, Kindness, Humility, Unselfishness...all that is good and holy. As God is the trinity, defined as three seperate entities, so He also created man in three parts, the body, mind and spirit. The body represents our carnal man, the part that is destined to die, the mind is our will and emotions and our spirit is what connects us to God's Spirit. We were created to be a spiritual being having a human experience and not a human having a spiritual experience. Don't get these two confused or you will go through life wondering why you're here.
In His agape (perfect) love and His own likeness God created man to be His adopted children so He could bless them, to set them apart from any other living creature on earth. Being consecrated, we are to be righteous and holy and enter into a beautiful relationship with God our Father. Since God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, it is no doubt that it was His intentions to fill the earth and make it one big garden of Eden.
But since God is a loving Father and not a tyrant, He gave His new creation the free will choice to love Him back or not. In allowing us to make our own decisions He would know who really loves Him. He won't make anyone fellowship with Him who does not choose to do so.
This is the downfall of mankind from the very beginning as God had an adversary the devil who's job was to destroy God's perfect plan. To this very day Satan is still trying to accomplish this plan, but he will stand on trial one day and be sentenced to the Lake of Fire for eternity. Not only himself, but everyone who follows him will experience the same sentence. Since God is holy, He cannot allow the sinners of the world to have entrance into His kingdom. A child of Satan's is no child of God's, there is no hope of adoption for these disobedient ones.
Satan's pride and arrogance is what got him thrown out of heaven and as a result he was given full reign of earth and that is why to this day our wars are not against flesh and blood but the powers and principalities (Ephes. 6:12). Satan takes his exile to earth very seriously, he is adament in destroying what God meant for good. His first target of destruction was of course the unsuspecting Eve. He was crafty, sneaky and charming all at the same time. He lured Eve into thinking that God had lied to her and that if she ate the fruit she would be just like a god and would know everything. This sounded so tempting!
Temptation is the start of sin which is hard to resist. The first taste is always so sweet and satisfying. It usually feels like more. And sin is also contagious. As she ate the fruit and seemed to be enjoying it so much, Adam did not take much convincing to try it also. He did not correct her behavior, he condoned it and joined in on the forbidden fruit as well. To this day we find it very difficult to resist the temptations that lead to sin. It's human nautre to be attracted to whatever is forbidden. It gets our curiosity up. We don't rationalize the seriousness of sinning until it is too late.
If we listened to our spirits, we would know that when things are forbidden it's for our own good to resist them. The catastrophic results usually won't show themselves at first and that is why it is so alluring to go deeper.
Just as Satan convinced Eve that she would not die (at least not right away), we too always justify the reasons why we can give in to the temptation. Being human, we tell ourselves that no one will get hurt because no one will find out right? Wrong...as the Bible also says, we will reap just what we sow. We can't hide anything from God.
Adam and Eve had their eyes opened to their nakedness and they could not hide from God either. Upon sinning we get our eyes opened to the realization that we too are naked before God and nothing can hide the fact. Sinning takes on an immediate change of events. Once we are found out, just like Adam, we will not own up to our responsibility. As God left him in charge, He was questioned first about the crime. Immediately he pointed his finger at Eve and told God that she made him do it. Does this sound familiar? What goes around comes around. Eve then blamed the serpent for tricking her.
After all these thousands of years, we have not changed our sinful nature at all. We still point fingers at others rather than own up to what we have done. We haven't advanced much in this area.
But God who is holy and righteous is also the same yesterday, today and forever. He didn't listen to them then and He still won't listen to your lies and excuses. He commanded them to obey and had they only listened, He would have blessed them abundantly. But as a result He cursed them and Satan too. Why then do we assume that God will overlook our sins today?
One thing God cannot overlook or tolerate is deliberate sin. Once we know the truth, we can't deliberately sin if we are truly saved. In His Word Paul writes this: Heb. 10:26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. (vs. 27) But a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
As a result of the disobedience to the first man, God cast them out from a life of blessings to one of hardships. This curse is inheritently passed on in every generation. It's our free will choice to turn from sin and enjoy the blessings of God or to die in disobedience after facing Him in judgement. Remember, He doesn't make exceptions to the rules.
Just as God created man from the dust, He promises man's return to dust lest he accepts his eternal life through Christ. Do you know where you will be spending eternity? If you're not sure, it's not too late to get right with God who is always ready to forgive and forget your sins. He loves you and invites you to be a part of His kingdom through His Son Christ.
Is Satan worth serving when he does not have your best interest at hand? Remember he comes to steal, kill and destroy. No matter how attractive his offer may seem, just realize he's a liar and the father of them. Know the truth!
Ask God to forgive you of your sins because you are a sinner and you need to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior to take over your life. He will intercede on your behalf when you ask God in prayer. Admit that you believe Christ died, was buried and rose again to give you eternal life. Let Him lead you and soon you will see a change taking place in your life. Know that your purpose is to serve a loving God who wants to bless you and give you eternal life.
To be a friend of Jesus is to be a friend of sinners. Make a difference in someone's life today.
Vivian Gordon is an inspired follower of Christ to get the good news of the gospel out to all who will listen. It is her job to plant the seeds of eternal life in hearts that may otherwise have stoney soil.