“And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.” — Genesis 3:15
I have read this passage close to a hundred times, and I am always struck by God’s grace. The culmination of God’s creation, the ones created in his image, and for a special relationship with him, had just severed that relationship by sinning against him. But God’s thoughts are not on revenge; they are on reconciliation. In the midst of judgment, God gives the promise of redemption.
During this reading, however, I realized something I hadn’t before. As I read the passage and reflected on God’s grace, my mind jumped to the Lord’s Prayer: “and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.” What Jesus is telling us to pray is for God to forgive us to the exact extent that we forgive others. So if we are always forgiving, we are asking God to forgive us always, and if we are only sometimes forgiving, we are asking God to be the same towards us.
And I suddenly thought: What if Genesis 3:15 is not simply a Messianic prophecy? What if it is not meant to just display God’s grace and plan for redemption? What if this passage is also an example of how we are to react when others sin against us?
Therefore, be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1).
When someone hurts me, what is my first reaction? Are my resulting actions ones that are aimed towards revenge or are they aimed (rightly) towards reconciliation of the relationship.
And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18)
Father God, please help me to be a minister of reconciliation to the world around me. When I am offended, help me to move past the hurt and seek to reconcile my relationship with that person and my relationship with you.
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. (1 Peter 2:11-12)
How are we to live in this world? I love Peter’s advice.
1. Abstain from sinful desires. We are aliens and strangers in this world. This is not our home. We were designed for Eden and this world is cursed with sin. As believers, this world is also antagonistic to our faith. It wars against our soul. Pretty graphic description. Each day we face a battle. God tells us to be holy. The world offers us every reason to sin. Temptation is everywhere…and in our technological world, freely available to all. We must fight to remain pure. We must discipline our minds, eyes, ears, hands, and feet to live holy lives for God.
2. Live a good life. We are to fight our sinful desires by focusing on doing good. Peter summarizes the good life in 2:17, Show proper respect to everyone. Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. Each day we are seek ways to show respect to others and show love to our brothers. This is our mission. I like how Hebrews 10:24 puts it, Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. To “consider” implies that we actually take time to think of how we can spur each other on to greater love and good deeds. Ever done that? I confess that I haven’t…at least not too often. Maybe a good new year’s resolution is to take time each morning to think through how we can encourage at least one other person in their faith. Send a note or an email, make a phone call, give a good word, pray for them, minister to them, etc.
Peter says that when we live like this–avoiding sin and doing good–then we become an effective witness to the world, even though the world may attack and criticize us. And in the end, such lives cause people in the world to glorify God. Peter was obviously thinking of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16).
Let’s make a point to avoid sin and pursue good works, as individuals and as a church, in 2007.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9)
There is so much in these verses that I had to include them all. Here are the things that stood out to me…
1. We have a living hope…because of God’s great mercy, our new birth, and Christ’s resurrection from the dead. I just read a poll in the newspaper that said that many people fear that 2007 will bring a terrorist attack or some other major disaster. It is easy to let these kinds of thoughts dominate our thinking. Peter encourages us to remember that no matter what happens in this world we can rejoice because of the living hope we have in Christ.
2. We are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. God is in control and we are never out of His sight or unprotected in this world.
3. We will suffer grief in all kinds of trials while on this earth. Being shielded by God does not mean that we will never experience difficulty or pain. God shields our souls…and He uses trials to purify our faith. It is the heat that removes impurities from metal. And, in the same way, God allows us to go through tough times to teach us to depend more and more on Him.
Those three truths are a pretty good reminder for the start of 2007. We will have trials this year but we can still rejoice because we know that every trial has a purpose, that God is still in control, and that we have a living hope in Jesus Christ.