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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion February 8, 2008 Dents |
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Frontline Devotion for Friday, February 8, 2008 by Mike Martine
Genesis 3:1-24 (text at the end of the devotion)
(The following is adapted from a sermon preached on Thanksgiving Eve, 2005.)
There is a story about a time long ago, when God made the first two people, his first two children. And then, in an inexplicable act, placed a tree in the midst of their playground. A tree offering intelligence, the ability to discern right from wrong, and the opportunity to glimpse the mind of God. What made this act inexplicable was the fact that God told his children that they could not touch the tree.
Of course, we know what happened. They did. They touched. They ate. They saw the truth. And innocence ended.
Whose fault was it? The fault of two foolish children, or the fault of a parent who put the cookie jar in the middle of the floor and then walked away?
If we’re honest, it looks like it was God’s fault.
But…was it really a fault at all, or part of a plan?
Is it possible to understand God, to understand blessing, to understand anything at all that is important in life, without being broken?
Last night, my kids watched “Beethoven” on the Disney Channel. It’s a silly movie staring Charles Grodin and an enormous St. Bernard named Beethoven. At one point in the movie, it looks like this dog, who has endeared himself to his family largely by being an enormous, slobbery, loving pain, is going to have to be destroyed. At this point the mother in the family says to Charles Grodin, “Beethoven made this house real. He put dents in it.”
Are we real without dents? Can we really “get it” without pain and imperfection?
You have been broken. I have been broken. We all have been. Gandhi once said: “suffering is the badge of the human race.”
And I think, sometimes, we look at our lives and think, “I’ve been broken; why should I give thanks?” And I believe that is a mistake.
God allows us to be broken, because it is in brokenness that we realize the truth—brokenness teaches us wisdom. Brokenness, more than anything, teaches us the importance of accepting others and loving them, and brokenness shows us that God is the glue we need to put ourselves back together.
God knew Adam and Eve would take from the tree. God, I believe, wanted them (and wants us) to do so. Why? Because though we are children of God, God doesn’t want us to remain children. God wants us to be—in the best sense of the word—grown-ups. People who know reality and who have seen darkness as well as light. People who are real.
And so you have the necessity of “dents.” They teach us reality, and show us that we do, in fact, need our savior—the one who took onto himself our own, dented existence. The one who helps us accept the dents for what they are, move beyond them, and then takes the pain away and restores us.
I look at my own life and realize I’ve been very lucky. Yes, the dents have been many, but they could have been much worse.
But I understand now that, without them, I could not realize how fortunate I am. Lucky to have a family and home. Lucky to have friends. Lucky to have worship and music in my life. Lucky to have learned what really matters in this world.
Lucky to see the darkness and the light…and to know the difference.
The dents in the end, have taught me to be thankful—and, my guess is, your story is the same.
Having said all that, my wish is that none of us would ever have to endure another dent. But…that’s not going to happen. Still, a time is coming when that will be true. And one of the real miracles of our faith is this: When you and I love one another with the love of our savior, we get the chance to rise above the dents, above the suffering of this world, and glimpse the kingdom of God, made real among us.
May you glimpse that kingdom. Today and every day.
Genesis 3: 1-24
3Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ 2The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ 4But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the
garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But
the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ 10He said, ‘I
heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and
I hid myself.’ 11He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from
the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ 12The man said, ‘The woman whom
you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ 13Then the
Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said,
‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’ 14The Lord God said to the serpent,
‘Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.’
16To the woman he said,
‘I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.’
17And to the man he said,
‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
“You shall not eat of it”,
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.’
20The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all who live. 21And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.
22Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— 23therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
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