DISOBEDIENCE
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Genesis 2:16-17 |
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And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” KJV |
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” NIV |
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Matthew 22:36-39 |
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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said unto him, “ ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self.’ ” KJV |
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ ” NIV |
I have often heard people ask why it is that the world is in such a mess and why there is so much suffering? Every newspaper, every tv and radio broadcast tells us who has killed whom, who has kidnapped whom, who has bombed whom, with one catastrophic event following another, indicating that man’s inhumanity to man knows no bounds.
The news of high-flying personalities having abused young people throughout their lives has saturated the airwaves lately, begging the question: Is there no end to the depths to which man has plunged?
- God’s first commandment to Adam is that he must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- God’s first commandment to us is that we must love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind.
- His second commandment to us is that we are to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Adam did not obey God’s commandment, and because of this, we have all ended up being hostile toward anything holy, especially the Scriptures to which many seem to have cultivated a particular hatred of. Let’s take a minute or two to examine this disobedience toward God in another way:
Suppose the creator of the first mass produced motor car, Henry Ford, produced a book about the thing he had created. Let’s call it a workshop manual. A comprehensive set of instructions, helps and aids to assist new owners appreciate his special creation: The car! He would include in this manual specifications of the vehicle, such as the capacity of the engine, what fuel to use, the size of the tyres and what pressures to keep them at, what oil to use and when to have the vital services done to keep the engine running smoothly, how to look after the bodywork and most importantly: How to drive the vehicle.
What do you think would happen to Mr Ford’s creation if the new owner did not pay any attention to the carefully prepared instructions regarding the car and totally ignored them? A little far-fetched, I hear you say. Who in their right mind would take ownership of such a valuable possession and ignore what the maker prescribed and advised?
Now let’s take our scenario to a different level and transpose it into the Book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, where we are told that the Master Creator, God Himself, has created Man with all his complexities, amazing attributes and capabilities, and has decided to give His new creation instructions on what he must and must not do, including what he can eat and what he must not eat.
What do you think would happen to God’s creation if what He created did not pay any attention to the carefully prepared instructions and totally ignored them? A little far-fetched I hear you say. Who in their right mind would take custody of such a wonderful possession and ignore what the maker stipulated and ordered?!
Well the moral state of the world today gives you the answer. Man, in his own wisdom has ignored the instruction manual issued by God and has decided to go his own way, and for any of you wondering why and how this has happened, I suggest one word: DISOBEDIENCE!
Yes, it is disobedience that has led us all down a slippery road to destruction, and it is a destruction of our own making! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Think of what life would be like if we had NOT disobeyed the commandments given to us by Jesus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul and mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self.
If we loved our neighbour as we love ourselves, there would be:
| · No fighting. | · No killings. | · No murders. | · No abuse. |
| · No wars. | · No rapes. | · No bombing. | · No kidnappings. |
- Hitler would not have murdered 6 million Jews!
- Russian despots would not have murdered millions of their people!
- Pol Pot would not have slaughtered millions of his own people.
- The Japanese would not have tortured and starved to death thousands and thousands of people during World War II.
The list is endless! How could there be any one of these if we loved God with all our heart, soul and mind and loved our neighbour as we love ourselves? The fact that the whole world is groaning under the weight of these things is a stark reminder that we do not love our neighbour as we love ourselves. Therefore, we have ourselves to blame and no one, absolutely no one, can point an accusing finger at God for what is happening around us today. We are totally to blame. We have ignored the instruction manual on life and have decided to go our own way. We are guilty of gross disobedience and we are reaping what we have sown.
My prayer is that you will accept Jesus as your Saviour now, before it is too late, and that you will learn to live for Him and Him alone.