Inspirational Article From Joanne Lowe Index of Writings by Joanne Lowe on Gospel Web

NOT GOD’S PLAN

“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

Genesis 3: 8 – 13 King James Version

I submit to you on the authority of the Word of God that it is not and never was God’s plan for people to live in disobedience, turmoil and confusion. As I was asking Jesus what He wanted me to write today, He reminded me of several emails that I have received over the last two years from people who told me that they were having marital problems and problems with their children. One man told me “It is my wife’s fault that we have problems in our marriage and with our children”. Adam did the same thing; he passed the blame because He told the Lord God “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat”.

A mother who has four sons and two daughters told me “My kids are always fighting. I guess it’s normal for kids and families to fight”. One of the definitions for the word “normal” in Webster’s Dictionary is “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern”. God never intended for us to quarrel among ourselves or for children to fight. It is not normal according to God’s standards. However, because Adam disobeyed the command of God and ate of the tree sin entered into the world. Ever since that day when Adam disobeyed God, our homes, our country and the world has been in a constant state of confusion, discord and fighting. Adam said the woman gave it to him and he ate it. The woman did not hold a knife or gun and make Adam eat. He made the choice to disobey God. Today, you and I also have a choice to make. We can choose to obey God or we can choose to disobey God.

Jesus has commanded us to love one another unconditionally as He loves us yet all too often we fail Him in this area of our lives. I am just as guilty as you are. I do not love everyone unconditionally all the time because I allow satan to creep in and cause discord and doubts. The only thing satan can do is tempt us. We are the ones who choose to do wrong. Before you start criticizing and judging me, search your own hearts and see if you have done or said something that caused pain to someone.

Have you ever noticed that when we have a disagreement with someone, many times instead of pointing the finger at ourselves, we point the finger at the other person and say “It was your fault, not mine”. It doesn’t matter whose fault it was; what does matter is that it hurts Jesus and causes us to be ineffective in our service to Him. It is time that we stop putting the blame on others for our mistakes, and this includes me, and start to accept the responsibility for our own words and actions.

Let’s get back to the original plan that God had for us and that is to love one another unconditionally. It is only as we love one another without criticizing or judging that we will be the kind of witnesses for Jesus that He needs us to be. May God forgive us for being so self-centered that we hurt other people, and many times the people that we hurt are the people we love the most. Are you in the center of God’s will and plan for your life? Are you loving others unconditionally as Jesus has commanded and are you accepting the responsibility for your own actions and words instead of blaming someone else?

Joanne Lowe

May 11, 2007

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