6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Heb11:)
26If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:)
In the beginning Man did not have to look for God. God was right there with him as he walked in his perfect environment.
And Man had no needs, he had dominion over everything he saw and encountered, and all his needs and desires were met before he was even aware of them.
Except one.
Man has one problem above all others, which encompasses and causes all the others he has.
He wants.
He wants what he should not have.
He wants what he cannot have.
And he doesn't appreciate what he does have.
Being unappreciative, and ever wanting, and never satisfied; Man seeks that which will supply his wants and desires, without having to give up that which he already has.
And what is the source of that contentment he seeks?
God.
Man searches for God - not for fellowship, nor to express his gratitude and praise - but for his own fulfilment and grandizement.
Adam and Eve were kicked out of Paradise because they wanted that which they should not have. They wanted what they were told they could not have.
They wanted to be like God. And when they were told what they wanted to hear, that they could be like God without having to wait, by doing that which they were told not to do (which is our human nature), and by satisfying the lusts of their eyes and their belly - they grabbed at it. (Gen 3:5; Isa 14:13; Ezek 28:1-19)
Satan was not the cause of Man's downfall, nor is he to this day. Satan only appeals to our own selfish and rebellious human nature. Just as he tried to do with Jesus when He was at his lowest ebb of resistance. (Mat 4:10; James 1:13-14)
If Adam had been told to eat all the apples he wanted, but was forbad to eat dirt - dirt would have been Adam's downfall because he would have desired dirt above all else.
Tell a child that he can eat all the apples he wants, but don't touch the broccoli - and see which disappears when your back is turned.
Smoking does not come easy. To smoke a person has to override every repulsion and bodily rejection his body can muster (not to mention the expense). But for the sake of "fitting in," and self-image, (and very possibly rebellion against all warnings and threats by Health Agencies and parents), he endures the suffering.
But will he endure the suffering it takes to quit smoking, or by eating broccoli and cauliflower, or dieting if he were guaranteed ten extra years of active, productive, blissful life?
Not likely.
What we want, we want right now.
If we are told we can have a thousand dollars right now, or wait ten years and receive a million - we would take the thousand.
Con men, the media, and the governments (as if there was a difference) ply what they want from us utilizing this weakness. And we fall for it hook, line and fishing rod.
Man seeks God. He wants to know God. He wants to be just as much in God's blessing as he can get.
Not because he cares a whit about God; but like a child just before his birthday and Christmas, he wants all God can give him while "sacrificing" just as little of himself as he can get away with.
And Man seeks God.
Man searches for a road, or a person, or an organization that can promise him the most from God, without having to give of himself.
If he feels that someone, or something can offer him that which he seeks (and perhaps add to his Ego at the same time by promising status), he will jump at it.
Hence Religions, Cults and the ever growing number of Denominations offering simplicity and Worldly entertainment while lessening restrictions and promising greater access to God.
Move over Santa Clause.
Man seeks what God has to offer, while rejecting and avoiding God Himself.
A child seeks the presents "Santa Clause" can bring. But how many even Think of Santa the rest of the year, leastwise care a thing about him?
What a lonely life it must be for Santa Clause. Imagine what it would be like if he didn't have his Angels - I mean, elves to keep him company.
Man seeks God. When the car breaks down. When the baby is sick. When he loses his job. When the crops are coming in. When rain is late in coming, or not coming at all; Man seeks God.
Ancient Man had a cure for this. Ancient Man wanted his crop to be plentiful. He wanted to win the war he had started against his much more powerful neighbor.
Man needed God. He needed all the support he could get - and was willing to sacrifice a get it.
What did Man offer God in order to get what he wanted? Why, he offered the most precious and most innocent thing he had.
He offered the blood of virgins.
Or of babies.
Of course it wasn't his virgin daughter(s) he "sacrificed."
In fact, in many cultures (like the Mayans) it was the cutting out the heart of 200 or more captives while they were yet alive that they sacrificed.
God loves sacrifice.
Or does He? (Prov 21:27; Hos 6:6; Isa 1:3)
Man seeks God. He tries to understand God, like a child tries to understand his parents, his teachers, his boss, and his wife. He doesn't try to understand so that he can live with them. He tries to understand so he can better know how to get what he wants from them while having to "sacrifice" the least of himself.
Man seeks God.
Man looks around him and sees signs of creation. He sees order in chaos; he sees that there must be a Creator to have created this creation.
Man sees the sun. He sees that it is hot. He sees that it can make his crop grow. He sees that it can make his crop die. He sees that the sun has power.
Man wants that power.
Man tries to harness that power for his own benefit. He tries to appease the god of that power (often believing that the power is a god itself) by some form of sacrifice or prayer.
We call this "religion."
Religion is man's search for God. Religion is Man's way of approaching God in order to obtain from Him, or to ward off evil that he fears might befall him if he does not appease God.
Man cannot reach God.
Man's greatest works can produce no more than an infected pimple on the face of God's Creation, that is, this World.
"For God so loved the world!" (John 3:16)
God loves His creation. God looked at all He had made and said, "It is very good."
God created an ornament for His world, a tiny wart, and called it "Adam." ["kosmos" = the world plus its "ornaments" or inhabitants.] (Gen 3:19)
God planted a special Garden within which to place this wart; and told the wart to take care of the Garden, His creation, as well as the animals. (Gen 1:28-31; 2:6)
God made a wart, and gave it a job.
And the wart muffed it.
The wart was ejected from the Garden with much fanfare - even to the placing of a Cherub at the gate with a sharp sword to insure that Adam can never set foot in the Garden again.
And, contrary to popular belief, Adam (Man) never will set foot in the Garden again. (1Cor 15:50, 35-58; Rom 8:8)
The wart multiplied, as he was told to do, and produced such an infestation of warts that God had to cleanse and purify the earth once more, wiping all but eight of the warts from His Creation. (Noah found Grace, due to righteousness. Nothing is said of the seven others being righteous, they shared in Noah's Grace.)
Man seeks God.
Before the flood we know of just one who sought God; Enoch. And Enoch found God.
Noah apparently sought God. We don't know. We only know that he, like Moses and Abraham, was found by God, and were apparently righteous in God's eyes. At least we know they were Faithful and Obedient, which may account for their righteousness and their found Grace. (Heb 11:5)
Man seeks God - and can't find Him.
Man is a wart, an "ornament" on God's creation.
Man thinks he is special. He thinks God holds him in high esteem. He thinks God owes him, like the spoiled brat who thinks his parents, and the world, owes him a living. (Rev 3:17)
Man thinks by his "sacrifice" and "good works" he either appeases God, or creates an indebtedness that God must repay (like the ancients). (Isa 64:6)
Like a child who takes out the trash once a week thinks his parents owe him his meals, clothing, TV, computer, and a new car when he comes of age.
God seeks Man.
God does not seek Mankind. Mankind is a mass of warts, an infestation on God's "Good" Creation.
Mankind was placed here on this world to care for it. Part of that responsibility to care for the earth is to care for others of Man's own kind. (Mat 19:19; John 15:17; 1John 4:16)
Man destroys the world he was given the responsibility for. He has proven himself a "Wicked and Unprofitable Servant" that will be, at best, bound and cast into outer darkness, and at worst be cast into a fire with the rest of the tares and unproductive branches..... (Mat 25:30; Luke 17:10; Rev 11:18)
Which will occur at the end of this age, when God once again purges this world of all its warts and pollution. And this time He will restore it to the condition to which He first created it, and to which He intended it. (Acts 1:6; Rev 21:1; 22:14-15)
And once again He will walk with Mankind in His Garden, but this time with a Man who is in His own image, and without fault. (Heb 1:3; Col 3:10; 1Cor 15:45; 2Cor 4:4; Rom 8:9-11,29; Ezek 36:35-36; Joel 2:3; Isa 51:3)
God seeks Man.
After Noah, the world once again turned away from God and back to himself, believing he is more important than the God who created him.
Once again God sought out a man with whom to establish a system of Believers, of Faithful; and He chose Abraham. (Joel 2:3; Ezek 31:8-9; 36:35; Lam 2:6; Jer 31:12; Isa 38:11; 51:3; Gen 13:10)
Through Abraham, an aging plant beyond seed bearing, God brought forth a nation with which He could commune in His Garden, and rather than leave these selected to their own devices, God first let His nation wither in Egypt so that they would appreciate Him and what He was willing to do for them; and to break them of ego so they would be more pliable toward His will.
Then with miracles, His Own Personal appearances and guidance, and strict rules to show them, without question, what He expected of them - He led them to the location of His Garden. (Gen 2:8; 13:10; Song of Solomon; Eccl 2:5; Amos 9:14; Luke 13:19)
Still Man rebelled. And though God had given them precise instructions how to tend His Land; they rebelled and refused. They neither cared for the Land or for one another; nor for the God who showered His Love upon them. (Gen 2:2; Lev 23:25; 25:1-24: 2Chron 36:21)
So once again Man was kicked out of the Garden. And once again a sword was used to keep him out, this time in the hands of the Gentiles; for which the land would not produce. (The Romans and the Arabs)
And the land rested. (Lev 26:34-35,43; Jer 50:34)
God seeks Man.
God searched for Adam in the Garden. Adam hid from God because he knew he would be punished for his disobedience. (Gen 3:8-10)
"Guilt will find you out." And that it did; and that it does.
Man continues to hid from God, because he knows he continually does wrong.
And he knows he is unwilling to change his nature; or at best, unable to change his nature.
So man hides from God - and how best to hide than to convince oneself that God does not exist, or at least takes no interest in the affairs of man.
God seeks Man.
Sin caused Man to be cast from the presence of God. Sin prevents man from accessing God. Sin keeps Man from feeling worthy of God; so therefore he does not seek God in earnest. (Ezek 18:27-28)
God seeks Man.
God wants to fellowship with Man. God tries earnestly to convince Man to turn from his wicked ways and follow Him; to walk with Him; to sup with Him.
But God cannot look upon sin. He is repulsed by sin. (Hab 1:13; Deut 25:16)
Yet sin is Man's Nature. (Gen 6:5; Rom 3:9-18)
God wants Faith, Love, Obedience and Fellowship. (1John 4:16; 2Cor 10:4-6; Rev 3:20; Gen 3:8-9)
Man is Selfish, Unbelieving and Rebellious. (Jer 5:23-24)
"Never the twain shall meet."
God declares: "All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." (Rom 10:21)
And Job said: "For he [God] is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman [mediator, judge] betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." (Job 9:33)
God says: "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Rev 3:17)
While Man (those who do seek God on His terms) says as Paul did: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24)
Then God says: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
Maybe this is the answer to Paul and Job's prayers. Someone who can put His hands on both Man and on God. Someone who can heal us from this body of death.
A Mediator.
But in order to be a Mediator, that is, to be someone who can represent Man to God, that person would have to be a man, that is, be of flesh and blood, and at the same time be without sin.
But, how can that be? Man is born in sin. Flesh is sinful. Even if such a person could be found, it would do us no good, because the best he could do is live forever without seeing death, death being the consequence of sin. (John 8:24: 11:26; Gen 2:15)
Yet even then, this body withers and dies - so in it, that is this flesh, what would be the benefit of staying alive?
Adam and Methuselah lived to be nearly a thousand. I suppose they did well enough. But how about a hundred thousand? What would their bodies look like then?
And if Righteousness, that is being good enough to stand up and talk to God was enough, then surely Abraham, or Moses, or Enoch could have served as a sacrifice.
Or, at least, if they were able to find a wife who also stood in good standing with God (as did Sarah, it appears), the two of them might have produced a line of offspring that could make it back to the Garden.
But isn't this exactly what the effort was through Abraham, through Isaac, etc? Wasn't that an attempt to weed out the "tares" and end up with the best of the crop?
How well did it work in your opinion?
No. To have the nature that God expects of us, it would take God placing His own nature in us....somehow.
What is there about God that could possibly be in both God and Man at the same time? Something about God that could indwell us (Man) and cleanse us of our rebellious, selfish nature while at the same time filling us with a nature of Love, Obedience and Servitude. (Rom Chapter 8)
Is there anyone like that? Anyone who can serve as a Door, a Mediator to God? (John 10:9; 1Tim 2:5)
God seeks Man.
Man is but dust. There is some dust better than other dust; but regardless of the quality, it all must be swept out of the house.
Man's efforts to seek God; Religion, serves us nothing.
Those who seek God, unselfishly, may very well find Him, and have their prayers answered. But finding God is not Fellowship with God, since Fellowship requires both who seek such communion be of the same nature, in this case, both have the Nature of God. (2Cor 6:14)
The best of religions reach not God, but the god of this world (Principalities and Powers). And very often the god of this world is ready, willing and able to satisfy our desires, because it keeps us from looking any farther, and possibly finding the God who created both him, and us.
And since we are being served that which we wish, we believe we are in good standing with God.
Religions seek God by satisfying oneself. If your religion is self-satisfying, then it is not satisfying to God.
Religions go by a multitude of names. Many of them we are all familiar with, such as Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity....
Christianity? Haven't we been told that Christianity is not a religion? Isn't Christianity the channel to God, and not just a self-seeking means to try and approach Him?
Supposedly.
"What's your religion?"
"I'm a Christian!"
"You don't say. Well line up over there with the other Christians who are waiting to be fed to the lions."
Are you a Christian? Are you sure? Would Jesus, Paul, Peter or any of the others who call themselves "Christian" throughout history and in other countries get in that line?
What would God require you to do?
Is your "Christianity" a religion? Or are you a follower of Christ?
Have you truly taken up your cross to follow Him?
Jesus spoke of having His thoughts always in Heaven, listening to His Father. He was not waiting to be taken from this earth before communing with His Father - He was having fellowship with His Father while still in this flesh and blood body. (John 5:19; Mat 7:21; 1Cor 2:16; Phil 2:5; Heb 8:10)
Just as we are told to do.
Do you talk to God? Are you listening for His voice? (John 5:25; 10:3-5,16, 27-28; 18:37)
Are you walking in the Garden with Him right now? (John 18:26; Gen 3:8-11)
If getting to Heaven means giving up all your possessions, your self-serving attitude, your rebellious nature; (Luke 14:33)
If being a Christian means having the Holy Spirit dwelling in you; and having the Holy Spirit direct your life in the way He wants you to live it; (Rom 8:12-15)
If only those who have allowed themselves to be "Born Again" into the Image of God, that is, to be as Jesus is, then..... (Rom 8:29)
Are you a Christian?
Are you diligently searching for God? (Heb 11:6; 12:14-15)
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