John 17:17b:
Your word is truth.
We have just finished VBS tonight where the entire week was devoted to showing that we must look at things and develop a worldview that is based on the Bible (using Bible glasses). We shouldn’t let worldly influences such as Dr. Knowitall dictate what we believe.
As I was helping tonight with the craft activity, the group of 5th and 6th graders that I was with were making dinosaur tooth necklaces. The tooth part was actually a piece of play dough that they were shaping to look like a T-Rex tooth. A couple of the children that had finished before everyone else began to hold their necklaces up. I watched as a boy also began walking around holding the necklace by the strap. At that time, the string of the necklace pulled through the still-soft play dough and the tooth fell right off and landed on the floor. I also observed how distraught the boy was because he had to pick it back up and start all over again.
Having realized what would happen if the kids didn’t keep the necklace lying on their pad until it could dry out, I began yelling out and telling everyone to make sure that they do not pick up their necklaces, but that they need to handle them with care because they will ruin it. Having made sure that everyone knew, I observed that some of the kids decided not to heed the warning and they also messed up their necklaces. Some of the kids listened to the warning and left the craft room with their project still intact. I observed as well one boy who got his tooth necklace downstairs to the “Wow Zone”; however, during the Bible study, he messed with it and his necklace also fell apart.
The Bible is God’s truth. If we chose to ignore the warnings in the Bible, the consequences are a lot more heart breaking and upsetting than ruining a craft necklace. If we know the truth, and we see others not living in a way that aligns with the truth, let’s be sure to proclaim warnings whether they are heeded or not.
In studying the creation account in Genesis this week and sin entering the world, I think about Genesis Chapter 3. In vs 12, “the woman whom You gave” is Adam not confessing and taking full responsibility for his sin, but trying to pass it on to God Himself. Eve replied in vs 13 “the serpent deceived me” as she tried to pass the blame on to the serpent.
However, both Adam and Eve knew the warning by God in chapter 2, vs. 16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
The warning had been spoken; however, they showed distrust to God and disobedience towards God when they ignored the warning. They were without excuse.
We too are without excuse. If God’s Word is truth, and we have a Bible, than we have the warnings. Are we going to listen and heed?
-RB
Genesis 3:1-4:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
DPOD 