As if things weren’t bad enough with Adam and Eve having to leave the Garden, we now read about a murder. Cain and Abel… how do you process this story? Is there anything to learn from it? Asking these questions leads me to look at this story of Cain and Abel from a few perspectives. First, I want to simply look at why God might not be impressed with Cain’s gift. I don’t want to stop there. I want to then note what God does. Finally, I want to simply ask, “What is Cain’s problem with God?”
The image we have of people affects how we “see” every action they take, and “hear” every word they speak. One day, one of my managers said to me, “If people think I’m a liar, I will give them plenty of proof!” I was a bit taken back, “Do you lie that much?” He laughed. “No, what I mean is, they will hear my words through a filter that can twist my meanings into their meanings.” The same is true of events we are witness to or read about. In Genesis 3, God has five main actions…
In these early chapters of Genesis we see not merely a tale of something that happened long ago, but something that happens every day. Every day God creates. Every day God breathes life into the world. Every day I take a bite from the forbidden fruit. Every day I make decisions to make myself the most important person—more important than God. These scenes play out over and over again in the lives of human beings… and if that is the point, then perhaps we should consider how this story is our story.
Recently, the movie The Darkest Hour, captures the struggles of Winston Churchill during a small window of his critical first year as Prime Minister. Churchill often to be the only person in his circle who seems to understand that there is such a thing as evil—and that evil will never be satisfied until it dominates – indeed destroys – all that it possesses. For evil, possession equals consumption. Evil is real. And not only is it real, but it is not something “out there.” We are in the battle.
There are lots of ideas and resources about delegation available today. I have found that many of these processes miss a key component: relationship. In today’s age of collaboration and teamwork, relationship is king. In order to successfully delegate, I’ve devised a process, where at the start, you address the relational nature of your specific situation.
When was the last time you learned a new skill? Maybe a new language, a musical instrument, or a hobby, like painting or golf? You have to start at the beginning. Getting better at something, creating new habits and routines, building our “gut responses” and “instincts” – all that takes time and repetition, doesn’t it? We have to “drill” the basics in order to get somewhere, and to know how to respond when we’re met with a challenge.
Most guidance for a blog is that you say whatever you are writing in 500 words or less. So, in 500 words or less, describe how connected you are to your spouse. For Adam, it was easy – “She is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh!” If this were an onstage competition, I imagine Adam “dropping the mic” and walking away.
When you got a pet and it was time to pick a name, how long did it take? Seriously.
Our dog is named Bailey. He came to us named Whiskey, and we thought, “No, no… he’s not Whiskey.” So, we thought of about 5 other names. He’s Bailey.
How about selecting a name for a child? Even if you do not have children, I expect you have come across one or two new parents who agonize over this task. Why is naming important to us?
There is a phrase some use. “That’s my baby!” We apply it to our boats, our cars, the latest creation we’ve made…even our…babies. It communicates our deep connection, our deep investment, our deep love—for whatever is crowned with that phrase. When you pour yourself into something—your sweat, your energy, yourself—it is natural to become deeply committed.
Family is where we should Flourish. Family is where we should be able to Fail. The operative word is “should.” Our families don’t always work out the way they should. In fact, sometimes we feel like our families are failures.
The daily and weekly grind—the grind—that is how many refer to their jobs. Work is... well, it is work. It is why we’re usually paid to do it. How do you feel about work? For me, my struggle is the other way. Too much of my identity is tied up in my work. If I am successful at work, then I am successful. If I am not successful then, somehow, I allow my failures to infiltrate my sense of worth.
From John Legend, to Christi Perry, to Agnus & Julia Stone, to Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods… to the Spice Girls and more… artists have written poems and songs with the title "Who do you think you are?"Knowing who we are, or rather, who we are meant to be—our identity—drives our lives.
Ever hung up the phone with your boss, or walked out of her office, and thought, “Why is she working on that? Isn’t that supposed to be my job?” Many of us have had this experience – maybe all of us. So, what is the answer to, “Why is she working on my stuff?” I used to conjure up the worst possible scenarios in my head, and (I’ll admit) think some really non-flattering things about my supervisor. Have you ever done that? Nothing good comes from it!
Bang! That loud sound is not simply the Universe exploding into being—something from nothing—no, if we can hear past the noise, we will hear an even deeper SOUND. We will hear WHY we were born—WHAT FAMILY we are a part of—in fact WHO, at our core, we are! But first, we are going to learn about God.
Let me invite you to read Genesis with me. It’s a story with family drama, epic battles, evil kings, betrayal, intrigue, romance, and more.
Most importantly, it’s a story about family!
Do you ever think about God’s family? God’s family (that includes us!) is all connected. And sometimes it's messy. But we need to learn our story. Not facts, but rather our family story. Because at the heart of that story is our God.
Thanks for reading the Gospel of John with me! We’ve come to the end of our journey, walking with John, through his Gospel about his best friend, Jesus. I tried picturing myself in the various scenes John described, thinking about what his reaction might have been. I imagined his jaw dropping as he watched his friend Jesus, who he thought was a mere mortal, do things only a god could do.
Responsibility—yikes! I am not sure how many of us wake up in the morning saying, “I can’t wait to be super-responsible today!” However, I want to suggest that from our relationships flow responsibilities. I am a dad. I have father-son relationships. As a dad, I have responsibilities. Those responsibilities are not random, they have an aim, a purpose.
Fishing has an interesting hold on many people—they love it. Today, at the end of John’s Gospel we hear Peter saying, “I’m going fishin’” (verse 3), and the gang joins in. I don’t believe recreational fishing is what Peter and the gang were aiming for, when they went fishing. They were returning to their livelihood. They knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, but they did not understand their role in the plan.
When something doesn’t make sense, we often analyze and re-analyze the situation. There are times we must dig and dig in order to understand. There are other times however, that all our digging is because we are rejecting what we have been told over and over again. Or we dig because while we say we “just need a little more” information, the reality is, we’re delaying decision time.
