School's out for summer! That means I have more time to read books and play around in the yard. I'm reading God the Father Revealed by Lewis Erickson. I started this book earlier, but I didn't have time to finish it. I re-read chapter 1 and I came across this idea that when Adam and Eve sinned, that did not end their relationship with God. Sin did not sever their relation with God; they felt exposed and fled from Him. He provided them with a covering so they would not flee from Him. The covering was made of animal skin because sin when it is full grown produces death (James 1:15). God went with them when He banished them from the garden.
Now this reminds me of something I read in another book, You're Going to Be Okay by Holley Gerth. I don't have the book to look back at and re-read. I loaned it to someone else and it never came back. Guess they needed it more than I did. So we will have to rely on my memory. Holley talks about weeding in her garden. She says the weeds are like sinful patterns and habits in her life. She talks about the seeds of those weeds have been in the soil of our souls for a long time: doubt, covetousness, selfishness, and the like. God allows the right conditions to come along to cause those weeds to spring to life. When we see them growing in our lives, we are made aware of the seeds' presence. God has known it all along, but we have not. When they grow, we can now partner with The Farmer to remove them. His desire is to heal us of the damage of those seeds, to stop the spread before death has fully grown into our relationships with others. His goal is not to expose us or embarrass us but to heal us.
There's one more section of another book that I've been thinking about. This one is Daddy Loves His Girls by T.D. Jakes. He talks about when we are born, our parents are adults. They know we will mess up and hurt them. That is a normal part of the human condition. It didn't change their love for us. They knew the day would come. He compares this to our relationship with our Heavenly Father. God knew all the days of our lives before we were born (Psalm 139:16). When we sin, it's not a surprise to Him.
I love these passages because I've written about how occasionally the enemy likes to torment me by reminding me of past (or current) mistakes. I like to use this to God's glory by thanking Him for saving me when these thoughts come up. Sometimes I think I should have things figured out by now. I'm 42 and I've been walking with the Lord from childhood. But every once and awhile (probably more often that I'd want to admit), a weed springs up in the garden of my soul. It's freeing to remember that God knew I would make this choice before I was ever born. It doesn't change His love for me. He wants to be a part of fixing the mess, instead of me trying to deal with it on my own. This is all a part of cultivating the beauty and fruitfulness of Christ-like character in my life.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23
