Unashamed

This Sunday my husband will be continuing his Nurture Series of sermons. He will focus on Genesis 2:25 which says "The man and wife were both naked, and they felt no shame."

This takes place before the fall of man into sin which is recorded in chapter three of Genesis. Adam and Eve felt no shame because they had not yet sinned in disobedience to God's command. Over and over my husband has been trying to drive home the fact that ever since the fall of man, we have been born in the image of those sinful parents (Genesis 5:3). However, God provided a way back to that beautiful relationship Adam and Eve once knew. It is through our relationship with Jesus Christ, and the transformational work He does in us, that we are able to stand before God unashamed!

Yesterday I attended a Global Missions Conference where a missionary who resides in Kenya told us about the horrific attack on Garissa University that occurred on the 2nd of this month. Four gunman stormed onto the university campus killing 147 and injuring 79 more. Their attacks were focused on Christian students. It was painful listening to the details of the attack. The missionary told us that at one point, the gunman had the girls come out from one dormitory and line up. The gunman told those who were Christian to step forward. Then they shot them. Would I have stepped forward? Would I have been unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I need to settle that question now, not when I am at gunpoint.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." (Romans 1:16)

Take a different route

Yesterday I put my grandson in his stroller and went for a walk. I took the same route I usually take when I am walking by myself. I got about 3/4 of the way through when I realized I had dropped one of his burp cloths somewhere along the route. So, instead of completing the route, I turned around and retraced my steps. The most interesting thing was that I noticed so many "new" things, that several times I had to ask myself if I was going the right way! Could it be that I do the same thing in my life? Am I doing the same things, the same way so often, that I miss some fabulous things that were there the whole time?

As my husband and I are reading some books about marriage, we've been discussing whether or not people can really change; especially couples like us who have been married for 25 years. I just heard a statistic on the radio that most divorced people surveyed 5-7 years after their divorce said that if they had worked a little harder, they may not have gotten divorced. The speaker also said that most people drown 10 feet from shore! In other words, hope is not that far away! We just need a new perspective. Perhaps it's time to take a different route and notice some new things.

Perhaps the way we've been "doing church" needs to change. What the church (universal) has been doing isn't working. In fact, we're drowning. But what if we're only 10 feet from shore? What if the answer is close at hand? My husband challenged the congregation last Sunday to take a new route. He asked for 10 people to commit to a year of discipleship training for themselves, with the understanding that each person would then train someone else the following year. Will we move away from the route we've always taken, gain a new perspective and make it to shore?