BibleScribbler

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Ain’t No Circumcisions Happening in Sodom, Abraham

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In Genesis 17-18 there are two contrasts that should not be overlooked.

What is going on with the private parts of Abraham vs. the men of Sodom?

Ishmael is 13, Abraham 99, Sarah is 90. We don’t know how old Hagar is. God tells Abraham to circumcise every man in the house. That is a big deal! These are grown men! And once that happens it is 3 months before Sarah is pregnant!Circumcision in the primitive world was and is an extremely risky business. Now there are machines and tools and anesthetic, but to a man then it was flint knives, topical pain killer (maybe) and blood! Plus the risk of doing something wrong and being permanently harmed, or a painful infection, or both one after another.

Circumcision in the primitive world was and is an extremely risky business. Now there are machines and tools and anesthetics, but to a man then it was flint knives, topical pain killer (maybe) and blood! Plus the risk of doing something wrong and being permanently harmed, or a painful infection, or both one after another.So Abraham submits to it as do all the men in the house. It was a rough month that week.

So Abraham submits to it as do all the men in the house. It was a rough month that week.In the mean time, over in Sodom, men are doing whatever they want with their privates. When the visitors come to the city, all the men that hang out in the square just about

In the mean time, over in Sodom, men are doing whatever they want with their privates. When the visitors come to the city, all the men that hang out in the square just about riot over wanting to rape the visitors.A riot! Because they can’t rape the visitors to the town!

A riot! Because they can’t rape the visitors to the town!>but before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.

but before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.

These men were under the savage control of their sexual desires. These guys would have never circumcised themselves for the Lord. They would never take the risk of pain or infection or death or giving up their sexual abilities. They wouldn’t even give up the pleasure for a night for the sake of righteous abstinence, much less the month of circumcision pain and recovery!

What do we live for today, men? You can’t watch a football game without a bikini commercial for salad dressing and you can’t read a blog post without some cleavage in the sidebar ad!

Be inspired by the faith of Abraham. He put it ALL on the line, and a year later was only the beginning of God giving him what God had fully promised.

Jesus' Nature and His Temptation

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I have still been amazed today that Jesus really was tempted to bow down to Satan. I was talking about it at lunch and Andy G and I began talking about how it was a real temptation for Jesus to turn the rocks into bread. Andy said a good one, “He probably had to deliberately prevent Himself from doing that.”

If something is in your nature, you do it based on your instinct. You do it as a reflex. When I’m hungry, I eat something, when I’m thirsty, I get up and get a drink. When you can take a rock and POOF make it into bread, you have to be deliberate about not doing it. This is where being made into a new creation comes in. I do NOT live any longer, but Christ lives in me. The life I live I live in Him. That is what works in us to put off old destructive habits and develop holy ones; habits that are in the likeness of Jesus’ habits.

These habits are NOT what make us Christian or saved or anything. These habits are how our rebirth shows up and manifests itself. To do these habits out of obligation or law is to prop up a dead body and move it around acting like it’s alive.

Let our righteous acts come out our of the recreation of our habits. May we develop a heavenly nature that by reflex does what the Spirit wishes, as we deliberately walk in His ways.

Jesus was Tempted

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Today I met Andy J at the bank and we talked about Luke 4. The amazing thing about Jesus being tempted in the desert, I think, is that a lot of times we’ve been ripped off and analyze what the temptations represent or what they symbolize and the way He resisted w/ God’s Word or how Satan knows the scriptures blah blah blah.

It’s enough for me to realize that Jesus was tempted. And he wasn’t tempted like my co-worker that doesn’t want me to leave the box of donuts near his cube. This was God, in the flesh, so he was weakened and gave up some of His power, being tempted to cheat the plan.

In the Miracle Maker, a claymation Jesus movie, the do a really good job of showing Jesus being tempted. At the end He is hollering at the top of His lungs, ‚ÄúYou shall not…put…the Lord…your God…to the test.‚Äù and He says that twice, almost forcing it out. Every time I see it I get tears in my eyes, because you really don‚Äôt know if He‚Äôs saying it to the devil or if He‚Äôs saying it to Himself. It really is a struggle for Him to resist.

I don’t know how to explain how one part of the Trinity could rebel or turn against God, but it was possible. It was entirely possible for Jesus to bow down to Satan. If it wouldn’t have been possible, then it wouldn’t have been a temptation. God’s own right hand angel turned against Him, His own son had the opportunity to do it too, but He didn’t.

And that’s the amazing thing. Jesus was fully man and had all of the limitations that we have as men (and women.) As He was a man, He had a perfect relationship with God, and in that relationship GOD did a ton of things through Jesus.

He was tempted to do something, and I don’t think His resistance had anything to do with some rational reasoning as to why we should all resist Satan. He resisted because He knew that was what the Father would do. He resisted because the things Satan suggested weren’t right, and He was willing to die rather than do even one thing that was not in alignment with the Father.