Month: November 2013

The First Thing We Learn About God

Oxygen Volume 14

So what’s the first thing we learn about God?

Whenever we read the five words of the Bible, we don’t learn that God is loving or forgiving or convicting or beautiful, even though He is all those things.

Instead, we read:  In the beginning God created

Emily P. Freeman writes The first thing we know about God is He made art.

What is the first thing we know about people?

We were made in the image of God.* 

So what does that make us?

If we’re made in the image of God, then we are creative.

Most of us believe this when we are children.

But then something happens.

Life happens.

Someone laughs at us.

We see someone else who is more creative than us (in our opinion)

Our favorite show comes on, so we give up and quit trying.

Through it all, we lose our creative spark.

We lose our creative desire.

We lose part of who we are.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can change it.

Don’t stop creating.

Remember who you are.

Hold on to who God called you to be.

No matter how you do it, create something.

It doesn’t matter if it’s music notes, clay, words, paint, string or bacon.

Keep creating.

Don’t stop.

Don’t let anyone take it from you.

It’s who God made you to be.

*A Million Little Ways

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How to get rid of the stench of sin

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I was at a gas station filling my tank when I pulled the pump out too fast and gasoline drenched my hands.  I ran into the station restroom and scrubbed my hands in white foamy soap.  But when I rinsed my hands, the smell was still there.  Frustrated, I drove to the hardware store where I learned about a hand cleaner called Goop.  Right there in the store, I rubbed it on my hands and was finally free of the stench.

In many ways, sin is like the smelly gasoline that spilled on my hands.  We don’t mean to get so involved with it, but somehow, we find ourselves soaked with its stench.  We try to cover it up with temporary fixes, but they don’t last.  The only sin cleaner that totally frees us from the stench of our own sin is the cleansing blood of Jesus.

The Psalmist once wrote, Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.  Wash away my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin.  (Psalm 51:1-2 HCSB)  He prayed to the only One who could rid him of the stench of his sin.  You can do the same if you choose.  You’ll be glad that you did.

 

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