In Downline, we're going through Genesis. Mind-blowing doesn't even cover it. The Lord has provided such a deep well to drink from, which is so refreshing to my broken cisterns. Jesus has been punching me in the throat with Truth after Truth that I have failed to see and experience- He's like an ultimate fighter! I looked a head at our notes from Abraham's story, and saw something that radically affected me. A summary sentence said, "Sarai decides to 'help God' and takes charge, and offers her husband the forbidden fruit."
Throughout the Bible, we see countless women offer up a forbidden fruit: Eve (fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), Sarai (Hagar), Job's wife ("curse God and die!"), Naomi ("Go back to your homeland"). In offering a forbidden fruit, we are imitating Satan and not Jesus. Hopefully we can all agree- that's bad.
Which led me to think: what is the forbidden fruit that I am offering? Obviously if these women of Scripture were offering forbidden fruit, then I can't safely assume this is something that I am immune to. In what ways am I seeking to undermine God, to take care of myself, seek my own gain, my own security, instead of trusting in the Lord? What are the things I do that could harm another believer, or lead them away from Christ? How do I seek comfort and security instead of sanctification?
Our wickedness and weaknesses are revealed in the smallest decisions.
The first forbidden fruit I thought of was how I dress. I'm not sure if you all relate to this, but hopefully you can atleast glean and infer an application for your own life from it.
When I get dressed in the morning, do I consider my brothers? My sisters? The Lord? Not nearly as much as I should! Thankfully the Lord has brought a great deal of growth for me in this area, but it is still a battle I can not ignore. I fight for these considerations to become a natural inclination, a daily victory.
However, my natural tendency is to first consider:
Does this make me feel pretty?
Does it make me look pretty?
Is it flattering?
Comfortable?
Do you see what's wrong here? I'm seeking my own glory over the glory of God.
Not only that, but many times in my own vanity, I trust in my beauty and have pride in myself! (Ezekiel 16:14-15). In this moment, not only am I seeking my own glory over the glory of God, but I am delighting in offering up a forbidden fruit to my brothers. I am seeking to present them with the opportunity for lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes. Surely in my pride I would never want to say it like that! Instead I sugar coat it with "I want to feel pretty" instead of "My intention is to lead men in to lust." And I have been so deceived by the enemy that I still struggle with arguing to defend this! I don't typically equate "feeling pretty" with approval from men, and I DO want to feel pretty, lovely, and delightful. I don't think that is sinful. But that must come from the Lord, not a silly outfit; not the lust of a man; not the shape of my body.
Do you see the sin, the forbidden fruit?
In realizing this about myself, I have been quite humbled to say the least. Exposing these motives of my heart exposes the fact that my flesh still delights in sin. How shameful! And all of this is revealed through a simple process of selecting an outfit. It seems so simple and harmless that I scarcely used to give it a thought. Yet if I can not honor Christ with the smallest choices in my life, then how can I ever expect to honor Him with the big choices?
What are the forbidden fruits in your life?
What are the forbidden fruits that I am putting in front of my brothers and sisters? How am I inviting others into sin and not into Christ? How am I inviting others (and myself) to rely on flesh and not on God?
This could be a simple outfit choice and our motives behind how we dress. An outfit may be sinful for me, and not for you; it's a matter of the conscience. How have I been convicted? Do I listen to convictions?
It could be how we speak. Do I invite Godly conversation? Do I only talk about myself? If/when talking about God, is it for His glory, or my own? Is it to praise Him or to use Him for my own selfish motives? Do I invite gossip? Am I humble enough to let the conversation center around someone else?
It could be how I act. Am I guarding my heart? Do I try to guard my brother's heart? Am I seeking to be a light and an image bearer of Christ?
Am I seeking the good of others? Do I consistently look for ways to encourage and serve others, or am I chiefly concerned with my own comfort and benefit? Do I serve consistently or only when it's comfortable or convenient? How often do I serve others? Do I iniate service or wait to be asked? Am I a helper, or a burden?
I pray that we would lay our forbidden fruits at the foot of the Cross and ask for forgiveness. I pray that our forbidden fruit would be replaced with the Fruit of the Spirit. I pray the Lord would expose sinful motives and wretched hearts and fill us with His Spirit. The forbidden fruit leads to death, but the Spirit of God leads to life.
No comments:
Post a Comment