I've been reading through the book of Genesis in my devotions lately. It's amazing how something you've read a hundred and one times in your life can become real for you again, or you can learn something new from stories you've heard your whole life.
About two weeks ago I was reading chapter 4 in Genesis. Every Christian knows this story. The story of the first murder. Cain and Abel are brothers. Cain brings an unacceptable offering to the Lord, whereas the offering that Abel brings is pleasing in the Lord's sight. Cain got angry and killed his little brother. The Lord sees Cain's unrepentant sin and banishes him to a different land, but not without branding on Cain a mark of protection (which really says something awesome about God's love for us and his grace). Needless to say, this isn't really a nice story. And, if I remember correctly, this is where the story stopped in Sunday school class when I was younger. Probably because there's a genealogy next, and who wants to read those, right?
But the genealogy contains a very vital part of the story. It tells us how Cain had a son, built a city, and thus started a line of descendants, which eventually came to a man named Lamech. Lamech was a polygamist, he had two wives. He also killed a man. Lamech was a sinful man. After the mention of Lamech, the story swings back over to the first family. Adam and Eve had another son and named him Seth. The story ends with verse 26, saying that "people began to call upon the name of the Lord".
Something I often forget is that the Bible is actually a story. From beginning to end, it's a story about the redemption of Jesus. This is something that was pointed out to me in bible school. The reason that I often forget it's a story is because I don't ever really read it in order. I pick sections or books from here and there and I read those, but I hardly ever read it from the beginning. What I realized this time through is that chapter 4 is not actually the story of the first murder. I mean, obviously, it is, but that's not the major premise of the story. The first murder shouldn't really be that relevant because we've already been introduced to sin. We saw that in the previous story, with Adam and Eve. This chapter outlines the next step: the growth of sin and the forging of two paths. The path of sin (and death) and the path of life.
Read further into the Bible and you realize that this is a very common theme throughout. Deuteronomy 31 explains that one must choose between the path of life and the path of death. Joshua 24 challenges us to choose whom we serve: the one true God or the gods of our land. Skip forward to Matthew 7 where Jesus tells us about a narrow gate, which leads to life, and a wide gate, which leads to destruction. Notice how there's only ever two options to pick from? There's no third option, there's no middle ground or middle path. The closest thing I can think of as a middle between life and death is dying. Which FYI... still leads to death. Jesus also doesn't tell us about a "moderately-sized" gate.
So why do we, myself included, think we can forge our own path down the middle?
This week I was sitting in one of my classes, waiting for it to start. I don't like eavesdropping on other people's conversations, but sometimes they talk so loudly that anyone around them can hear what they're saying. The three girls in front of me were talking about where they wanted to pierce themselves and their intimate, for lack of a better word, dating lives. While I was trying to switch my focus onto something else, I stumbled upon something very interesting. The girls in the row in front of me were talking about these inappropriate things, but the girls behind me were openly talking about what God had been doing in their lives this week. God directed my thoughts to this two paths thing I'd been reading about and kind of gently nudged me in the heart saying "this is what I'm talking about". I was caught in the middle of two vastly different conversations, coming from two vastly different worlds.
Why is this so significant to me? Because this is something I struggle with on a daily basis. I'm not even going to try to beat around the bush or lie to you... I'm a worldly person. I like this world. I love music and I listen to some music that I probably shouldn't. I enjoy movies and TV shows, but I know I watch some that, again, I probably shouldn't. The biggest dream I have in my life is to travel. I want to see the world and it sometimes actually physically pains me that I'm too broke to do so right now. All of these things aren't bad things, in and of themselves, but the problem is that I let them fill me up until there's no more room for Jesus.
I've been starting to make some changes in my life regarding this. I can't cold turkey music and movies, but I have learned how to slowly lessen it. I've started to read more books instead of watching movies and such. I've even challenged myself to read 50 books this year. I've also made a point to look for better and cleaner music. (FYI, you come across some very good hipster music this way.)
Why do I do this? Not because I want to go to heaven. Not because I want to be a "better" Christian. Not because I want to appear better to other people, because appearance means very little. I do this because God loved me, a sinner, enough to orchestrate an elaborate plan of redemption that includes sacrificing his own son. If he can do that, I can do this.
As I stated earlier, obvious lessons are often the most difficult to swallow.
Question:
Have you walked through the narrow gate leading to life, or are you still wandering around trying to find a "moderately sized" one?
