9But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”11And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 21The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Thoughts: Genesis 3 tells the story of how People turn away from God's directions to go their own way. God has invited them into fellowship with Him, but instead people choose to turn away from His invitation of fellowship. Pride is thinking we know better than God and perhaps that we are better off without the One who made us.
When sin began, shame and guilt began- and the innocence is lost. But God helps ease their shame and guilt. He provides- makes garments of skin for Adam and Eve. Even before they are forgiven, even before they made a sacrifice or claimed the need for a Messiah to take away their sin (Isa. 53:6), God still was gracious to them- covering them before they knew how to cover themselves. My point is God shows hospitality to people even when they don't deserve it. As Jesus put it, "He makes the rain to fall and sun to shine on the just and unjust" (Mt. 5:45). The Reformers called this "common grace." God is gracious to us in allowing us to live- giving us a chance to ask for a chance to come back into His good fellowship.
In this sense, we are to be kind and hospitable to all people- not just to those that we think deserve it. For some, they think this is a waste of our effort or time. But such a view is a selfish view- as if our time and ourselves are deserving and everyone else is not. God is the One who gives us life and time (quite graciously), and wants us to use our lives by being kind, loving, and gracious to others. Jesus' teaching about turning the other cheek, or treating others better than the deserve (Ps. 103:10) are lessons for us.
I like the saying of Dave Ramsey. When he is asked how he is doing, he often replies, "Better than I deserve." It's true.
The Father of the Prodigal Son keeps looking for him to come back- even though he deserves to be abandoned and forsaken. A man saw another man by the side of the road with a flat tire. He didn't ask if the man deserved the flat before he stopped. He could have asked if the man ran off the road or just didn't care for his car properly. But instead, he just stops to help. A man helps a lady when he sees the groceries fall out of the bag. He doesn't ask- why didn't she fill two bags instead of one- he just helps. So God helps us and is gracious to us. He calls us to be hospitable and gracious to others.
Prayer: Lord, thank you that you treat me better than I deserve. Help me to pass such treatment on to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment