Danny Panter

Antidote

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 4:1-16; 25-26 (day six)

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:7

The antidote to temptation is worship. Is that not what God is teaching Cain? What must Cain do well? It was not a matter of the physical offering, but rather a matter of the heart. “Cain, be careful. If your heart is not in the right place, then sin will be crouching at the door.” What God asks of Cain, he also asks of us, genuine delight in giving of our worship. And where there is sincere worship, there is no room for temptation. That is what God was teaching Cain…and us.

Knowledge

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:8-24 (day six)

Maybe the hardest kind of knowledge is self-knowledge; seeing yourself for who you really are. Their eyes had been opened, but they still couldn’t see; they had become wise in their own eyes. Rather than come clean, they both thought it wise to hide, and then even wiser still to cast blame. The consequences came, they were just, and they were devastating-heartache, pain, sweat, and death. But that is not the end of the story, God doesn’t walk away, he draws close, covers their shame. He loves them despite it all. He wants them to see Him, and then themselves, in that order. Only then can they know the truth, and the truth will set them free.

The Goodness Charade

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:1-7 (day six)

Becoming like God was not what they expected. Yes, their eyes were opened, but it did not have the desired affect. From the very first bite, it was not goodness they would enjoy, but despair, shame, and separation; they had never known such things. It was a bitter concoction.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to him, and bad when it turns from him.” (The Great Divorce) When we aim for good apart from God, we aim for nothing. It’s a ruse, a goodness charade. We convince ourselves that surely what we want is good until the game is up and discover it isn’t good at all. Adam and Eve discovered that turning from God to find their own good resulted in them being alone, from God and one another. The charade was up.

Thou

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25 (day six)

Then God said, “I now give you…” Genesis 1:29

It is no small thing, but it can be easily overlooked. God only addresses humankind with the second person pronoun, “you.” Not with any other creature, but Adam and then Eve, does God speak directly; later He will even issue His first command. This is so profound. We are distinct from all creation because we were made for the divine relationship; we were made to know and be known.

Consider this for a moment, there is no other created thing that hears God’s voice but humankind. When God said, “you” for the first time, Adam and Eve perceived it and understood it. They related to God; they knew Him. We were created to listen to God’s voice, to walk with Him in the garden, to truly know Him. Jesus declared to us that knowing God is the essence of eternal life. (John 17:3)

Are YOU listening?

All Our Being

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 2:4-17 (day six)

“For in him we live and move and have our being…” Acts 17:28

Those are the words Paul used to introduce the creator of the universe to Athenian philosophers; they were an echo of Genesis 2:17. We are not wound up clocks, all spinning gears and steel springs. Our very essence, all our being, is sustained by the breath of God. This is not figurative, or poetic, but is our reality, and it is good. The clock once complete exists on its own accord, separate from the clock maker. The clock maker looks at it, uses it, but no more. We are far different; our humanity is bound to our creator, even our next breath we owe to Him. Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Romans, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)

This is precisely why it is unfathomable that those whose “being” is dependent upon Him for every living moment would think so little of Him; choosing to “worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25) All our being bent against Him, but “while we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)

He died for all our being.

Good

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day six)

“God saw that it was good.”

The creation narratives remind of us God’s goodness! As He gives shape to the land He intends for it to be a good place for us to live in fellowship with Him and one another. It is also a reminder that God knows what is best for us; that self-determination is not the loftiest goal, but a vibrant relationship with God who knows our good!

Mind you this is no American dream philosophy; nor is it a prosperity Gospel, but a solemn trust that God alone knows and provides for our good. At the beginning this good was disrupted by sin, but we taste His goodness even now in the Gospel, and in its fullness when God completes His work in a new heaven and new Earth. His goodness comes full circle.

First Things

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:1-13 (day six)

We can’t help but marvel at origin stories; we are just fascinated by them. Even every child delights in hearing mom and dad tell of their earliest days when they were born, or how they met for the first time. Perhaps it is because we all know our own origins shape who we are and profoundly affect where we are going. Origins are not just amusing, they are a need; we must know.

That is the aim of Genesis 1 and 2. God is fulfilling a desperate need by revealing the origin of all creation. This beautiful cosmic revelation gives us purpose and meaning by providing the truest perspective, that we cannot really know our truest self without seeing Him first if all.

Resolute

Re: Verse reading–Mark 15:33-41; 16:1-8 (day six)

“…just as he told you.” Mark 16:17

It is no surprise to us, but Jesus did exactly what he said he would do. He followed through; he completed the task; he stuck to his word. He wasn’t all talk and no walk. He wasn’t all theory and no practice. He didn’t just flirt with redeeming the world (all those who would believe and call on his name); no, he actually redeemed the world.

This is helpful for us because it reminds us that the foundation of the Gospel is action. The Gospel was born in action, and thus gives birth to action for those who belief, affecting what we do by changing who we are. Jesus lived it, and so should we.

Mosaic of Wrongs

Re: Verse reading–Mark 14:43-52; 15:1-15 (day six)

“Why, what evil has he done?”-Pilate

That was Pilate’s immediate response to the frenzied cries to crucify Jesus. At best it was a half-hearted defense of Jesus; an effort to talk sense into the crowd. Everybody knew Jesus was innocent; the crowd, the Pharisees, Pilate, Herod, everyone knew he had done no wrong, he had done nothing worthy of capital punishment. Pilate did not know just how right he was though; Jesus had done no wrong EVER, not once had he sinned. The irony in this narrative is that it is everyone else’s “wrong” that stands out, not Jesus’. Judas’ betrayal, the Apostles’ flight, Pilate’s crowd-pleasing capitulation, the angry crowd, all a mosaic of wrongs.

Perhaps, one of the purposes of this narrative, is not for us only to see Jesus laying down His life, but to see ourselves for who we truly are, to see ourselves in the mosaic.

Gospel Depth

Re:Verse reading–Mark 14:12-31 (day six)

Mark is coming to a close, but it is a Gospel after all, and thus rapidly moves towards the Cross. In this narrative we have the securing of the upper room, the enunciation of a new covenant, the prediction of betrayal(s), followed by immediate denials (they were all wrong; perhaps most of all Peter). All narratives that we seem so familiar with. How do we look at these in a fresh way that doesn’t seem trivial? I suppose the best reminder is that we never graduate from the Gospel, nor those particular events leading up to the Cross. Every so often in ministry, I have heard the occasional mantra, “I want something deeper.” As if the Gospel is wading through shallow waters, no in fact, there is nothing more profound and worthy of contemplation.