something new

I think it's spiritually healthy to occasionally ask myself, "Do I feel close to God right now?" In the past I have had moments in my life when I knew my heart was pursuing Him and other times when I allowed myself to wander from His presence. I recently spent some time thinking about the current state of my faith. I went through my checklist that includes; prayer, Bible reading, church involvement, and sharing the message of Jesus. In my heart and mind I kept thinking specifically about the Bible; not only about the amount of time reading it, but I was convicted in the fact that I don't spend time studying the Scriptures like I did in college.

I used to study for hours on end to prepare Bible outlines for class, but since then I haven't put that kind of work into learning about God's word. I think it's easy for those in ministry to think that they are getting enough Bible study time as they prepare sermons and studies, but that time is in preparation to teach others about God. In being honest I know that the studies I prepared were for growing Christians and that my own learning wasn't being nurtured.

The author of the book of Hebrews talks about the differences of learning for infant versus mature Christians in chapter 5 verses 12 through 14; "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." [NIV]

Right now in my life I know that I am need of time to chew and digest the solid food of God's word. So I have begun a series I call Chapter by Chapter that will be posted here on my blog. It will be my thoughts and meditations on each chapter of the Bible, which may or may not make sense to anyone who reads them. I am doing this in addition to my personal Bible devotion time, but this will allow me have a regular opportunity to study, for myself, the words of God.

chapter by chapter

The Creation

Genesis 1

In recent years there have been quite a few movies that tell the origin story of super heroes. These movies detail the events that transform the lives of ordinary people into super heroes who have the potential to change the world.

The first book of the Bible is the origin story for everything we see in the universe, sin, a promise of a savior and God's chosen people. The first chapter tells us how the universe was made, it is the origin story of all that we see including man and woman. This chapter is the origin story of all creation.

"In the beginning God created..."

The first 5 words of the Bible present two mind blowing concepts that God existed before creation and that God has the ability and power to create. One of the first things that God creates is light, separates it from the dark and names them day and night. Think about it, God created time. So if God created time then that means He is outside of time itself. Isaiah 57:15 beautifully tells us that God, "dwells in eternity."

As God creates it is awesome to see the power of His words. Each part of creation came into existence after He spoke the words. God's words are powerful and the Bible is full of many promises from God that still hold the same power in truth all these many years since they were first written.

We also see that God creates good things. Each day God checks His own handiwork and sees that what He has created is good.

God is eternal, His words are powerful and He creates good things.

Our take-away is threefold; first of all God cannot be defined or measured and put in a box. We as humans have finite minds that have a hard time understanding the complexities of an infinite God. Isaiah 55:8 "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord." Just because God may be hard to comprehend, He is not distant from us, and John 3:16 tells us of God's love for the whole world.

Our second take-away is that God's word are powerful and always hold true. We can take comfort in the promises of God that are written throughout the Bible. For instance the second half of John 3:16 states, "that whoever believes in Him [Jesus] shall not perish, but have eternal life."

The last take-away is that God creates good things. Sin, decay and corruption were not created by God and were not part of His original plan for the world, but God's plan of salvation which is for everyone is a good thing.