There was a time when mankind was neither afraid nor ashamed.  It’s hard to imagine what that world must have been like, but that’s the very world God created and into which God placed the first man and woman.

Something changed in the very moment
Adam and Eve chose to sin. 
And sin brings fear.

Adam and Eve knew they had done something wrong. They’d rebelled against their Maker who would give them anything and everything, provided it was good.  Satan laughed because all he gave Adam and Eve was evil.  Adam and Eve hid.

They hid because sin brings fear and fear of being found out causes people to try to hide what they’ve done. It’s the cover-up. They tried to cover themselves with leaves and hid in the shrubbery.

God had a different cover-up in mind.  He covered them with animal skins so they wouldn’t be afraid of being naked.  He covered them with grace by expelling them from the Garden of Eden with its dangerous temptation to eat from the Tree of Life and live that way forever.  He covered them with love by promising a deliverer who would crush the serpent and its evil ways. He still covers us with His love.

Trying to hide or cover our sins from our loving Father is a completely futile endeavor.  God already knows. 

God says, “My eyes are on all their ways;
They are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.”
Jeremiah 16:17

If God already knows, who are we fooling? “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Maybe a better question is why we hide it from other people? Do we fear their punishment of us even as those forgiven in Christ?

Exercise:

Look at yourself in the mirror.  If you’re honest with the person in the mirror, what are you still scrambling to hide?  What do you fear coming to light of knowledge before mankind?  What lies do you concoct upon other lies trying to keep it hidden from sight from your fellow man/woman?  Now, remind yourself that God already knows.  Imagine God shining a spotlight on that sin or fear and the light of infinite love willing to cleanse it away by your now confessing what He already knows. If you’re still afraid of its coming to light or are embarrassed by it, read Luke 12:4-5 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” (Luke 12:4-5) and pray about whom to fear.

Join me tomorrow to exercise fearless confidence.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

In a recent Super Bowl ad, the “Jesus Gets Us” movement portrayed Jesus’ followers washing the feet of people sometimes derided by Evangelical Christians as sinners. Granted, there are limitations in a 60-second ad and a broad brush is being used to paint Christian thought, but there is great benefit in our discussing what it means that Jesus commanded us to “wash feet” –a highly symbolic and active gesture of servanthood toward each other.

The downfall of such “Jesus Gets Us” ads is that the conversations of repentance must come in the aftermath as biblical Christians point out that this divine love of Christ is not sin-caulk, filling a gap to allow an army of prideful, unrepentant sinners to march boldly into heaven.  He calls us instead to self-denial in order to “enter through the narrow gate” to the higher finish of holy love.

It’s supposed to be “Come just as you are…” not “Stay just as you are.”
Unrepentant sinner.

.

Sin distorts our view because we’re selfish.  A more biblical ad would have been to hold up a mirror to the camera and ask, “What sin do you need to have forgiven, and will you repent?”  Because the truth is that sinners come on the political and cultural right, left, and everywhere in between. The only person who doesn’t fall (and never fell!) into that category is Jesus Christ Himself.

Maybe Jesus “gets us”
but He isn’t a sinner like us and doesn’t want us to stay unforgiven. 
Such is the nature of His divine love.

Exercise: 

Read this description of “He Gets Us” foot washing in the Super Bowl ad including some photos which may be jarring for God-fearing people especially the expressions on the faces depicted and pray about their description and your emotional response. Analyze whether your response is from what you know biblically or what you feel emotionally. From https://hegetsus.com/en/what-is-foot-washing-and-what-does-it-symbolize/ 

“Honestly, images of people washing each other’s feet look a little strange and disconcerting because it’s not part of our modern-day customs. But there’s also something beautiful and profound in each image. Our hope is that our latest commercials will stimulate both societal discussion and individual self-reflection about “who is my neighbor?” and how each of us can love our neighbor even as we have differences and serve one another with more kindness and respect.”

Join me tomorrow for a look at the futility of trying to hide and cover our sins.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

Once Adam and Eve sinned, there was no going back to the relationship they had before sinning against God.  No longer would they see the world only in selfless terms. 

Selfishness now dominates this world,
but God is still selflessly loving His creation.

.

Sin’s appeal to the selfish human nature post-fall has blinded us.  We can be blinded by Satan (the “god of this age”), darkness (both spiritual and physical) and by willfully covering our own eyes out of selfish desires.  The result is we miss seeing the truth, God’s love, and His grace. We can fool ourselves into believing He’s not there because we don’t see Him, crying “Where is God?” when bad things happen.

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4-6)

God is still there. 

“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did…. its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.  Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” (1 John 2:6, 9-11)

Exercise:

Ponder the baby’s game of peek-a-boo. It teaches babies that people don’t disappear just because you don’t see them.  After reading the instructions, place your hands over your eyes, analyze darkness and blindness, and whether God has changed, disappeared, or no longer abides in light just because you can’t see. Think about the circumstances of your life.  The temptations.  The failures. The sins. When you begin to wonder if God can forgive you, or when you see world today and wonder where God is, remind yourself He is still there with His selfless love.  He will work all things for your good and His glory.

Join me tomorrow to learn about the narrow road of forgiveness.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

When Adam and Eve were confronted by the serpent, the issue of oneself vs. God presented itself for the first time.  Before that time, there was no conflict between God and man.  God was selfless and so were Adam and Eve living in God’s selfless love.  Initially, Adam and Eve had only known selfless living, and both God and His true Image-bearers lived in full love, harmony, and truth. All things were good and perfect.

But when the serpent confronted mankind with the other side, it offered oneself vs. God, a division between God and His Image-bearers. 

Even the serpent’s tone was adversarial: “Did God really say?” with a slightly twisted version of what God really did say.  In that way, sin portrayed God as withholding (selfish) instead of selfless (which is God’s very nature).  

“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5) 

In other words, the serpent was saying God doesn’t want you to be like He is.  He’s withholding this because He wants to be better than you.  Right now, you’re not like God and He wants to keep it that way!

The Adam and Eve being God’s true Image-bearers, reflecting Him as set apart by selfless love in all they do … suddenly … became Adam and Eve who accepted the allure of selfishness. This issue of self has been with us ever since. It has now become a test of who lives their lives as set apart. Christ calls His followers to deny themselves and follow Him in divine love.

.

Following Christ has three dimensions: self, holiness, and love. Self-denial, love, and holiness are related for us just as God’s holiness is tied to His love and selflessness.  Look at the culture around you and your day-to-day circumstances.  There are two paths before you: selfless love (be like God) or selfish living (sin). God says, “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

Exercise: 
Today’s exercise involves practicing living all day as one set apart FOR God in a culture that doesn’t like Him or want Him. This is the opposite of being set apart FROM God by agreeing with the culture’s way of doing things in which selfish living rules.

Join me tomorrow to see God’s love is still there.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

Many will reject the divine love of Jesus and the life He came to give because sin has distorted their perception of God … so much, in fact, that repentance is out of the question.  They don’t see the divine, sacrificial love. They believe their need for salvation is, therefore, beneath them and their intellect, and they convince themselves that only their sinful distorted views of themselves and God are real. Their pride is their downfall.

This is the kind of death Scripture refers to as the “second death”–it’s beyond remedy because these people will never choose the forgiveness offered because the price of repentance and humility are unacceptable to them. It costs them everything they value: self.

All people will die a physical death if Jesus doesn’t come back before that happens. The forgiven in Christ are saved because they’ve been made right with God through their repentance and the grace and mercy of a loving God in the powerful blood of Christ Jesus. The forgiven will never experience a “second death.”

But most people, Scripture tells us, are on the wide road to destruction, never humbling themselves and asking forgiveness. Theirs will be death two times over, never having tuned themselves to the distinction. The “second death” awaits them because they’ve never been made right with God.

“If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.  All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.  We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.” (1 John 5:16-18)

One type of death can be followed by eternal life.
The “second death” is never overcome with love or life. It is eternal death.
Tune yourself to understand the difference.

Exercise:
Pray, using the Scriptures above, and imagine yourself tuning an old-time radio with dials.  Ask God to adjust your thinking to remove the static (noise/confusion) to get a clear signal.  There are two kinds of death: physical death and a “second death.” God’s love is the cure for only one of those. Why? Be tuned in to the difference.  Repent and believe. Ask God to forgive you. Right now, it is not too late. “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.” (Revelation 2:11).

Join me tomorrow for a look at the selflessness of divine love.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

Meditate on how God is Love.  Not as some superficial saying, but as profound truth.  A fountain of ever-flowing love raining down and covering you.  Let His love wash over you like a fountain that is never exhausted as you worship Him in spirit and in truth.

This year’s Lent Devotional Series “Seeing His Love with New Eyes” resumes tomorrow after today’s Sabbath rest to meditate and worship. Today, reflect on the love of our God.

Opening your eyes to the love of God (flowing from heaven to forgive others as we’ve been forgiven) is a first step to knowing and feeling God’s love. Begin by being receptive.

Jesus spoke of this in the parable of the sower.  “Jesus replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.  In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” (Matthew 13:11-16)

Exercise:  Pray about being receptive to God’s work through Jesus Christ.  Open your eyes.  See what you know from Scripture: “God is Love”.  Read it. Say it. Hear it. Understand it.  Now take it to the next level.  Allow yourself to feel what you see and understand what you hear from God’s Word. Let His love wash over you as you worship Him in spirit and truth. God is Love.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

A covering over our eyes is like a blindfold or scales that prevent our seeing.  On the other hand, covering our hearts opens our eyes.  Let me explain:

Sin distorts everything. 
It puts blindfolds upon our eyes and plants unforgiveness in our hearts. 
Unforgiveness toward others.  Unforgiveness towards ourselves.

If you search online for “how to forgive” one of the first prompts is “yourself.” 

I’m obviously not the only one who struggles more with forgiving myself than forgiving others.  That’s because of guilt.  I know what I’ve done even if what I’ve done isn’t even sin but simple failure that I find embarrassing or regrettable.

Other people disappoint me all the time and it doesn’t faze me at all.  Disappointing myself is another issue. Why? Because I had control and decision-making. Sometimes I knew better.  Sometimes I just chose poorly.

The good news is that “Love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

Love does not cover our eyes.  It covers our hearts.  Do you know God’s love as a cover for your heart?  Have you asked Jesus for His covering you with forgiveness?

Exercise your faith:
Imagine yourself as a marshmallow or strawberry plunged into a chocolate fountain.  Now think of the chocolate as God’s love pouring inexhaustibly from heaven, covering you, flowing, flowing, flowing, never ending.  There’s always more love than is needed to cover us.  God’s abundant love covers our sin.  With sin’s scales and blindfolds covered with love, we can learn to see ourselves forgiven as God’s Image-bearers, and we can forgive our enemies because they’re made in the Image of God, too.  “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:13-14)

Join me tomorrow for how to see what you know.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

I wonder what it might have been like for Adam and Eve. 
To walk with God with no filter, no blinders, no fear.
Wow: only total clarity. 
Adam and Eve had a before-and-after-sin in their view of God. 

It’s an amazing thought because we only have an “after view”, a veiled view of Jesus, and our total clarity view will wait until heaven.

Eating from the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden.  The crafty serpent painted a different, false, and distorted view of who God is.  The serpent did not portray God as love, but instead as selfish, withholding something for His own control and power. 

In the aftermath, the issue of sin has distorted our view of God.  It has incapacitated us.  We have no capability to see God’s love unfiltered.  It’s more than we could handle as sinners in our distorted world of sin. 

Scripture tells us that fear has to do with punishment, and punishment didn’t exist prior to sin.  Adam and Eve weren’t created to be punished, but to be loved. Adam and Eve became afraid because they knew they’d sinned and feared punishment. 

In the distorted world Adam and Eve left behind,
we sin… and God punishes sin. 
We experience both fear and guilt.

But God is altogether different.
God is perfect love.  And perfect love drives out fear.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (1 John 4:18)

Exercise Your Faith:

Think back over a sin you know you have committed or an area where you fell short.  Why do you remember it?  Embarrassment?  Conscience?  Self-loathing at falling short and a desire for perfection?  Perfect love drives it all out.  Take that sin, visualize it, and stamp it with “God already knows. I have no fear. ‘For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.’” (Hebrews 10:14). God is faithful to forgive.

Join me tomorrow for the issue of forgiveness and its relation to seeing God’s love.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.

Try this exercise: Close your eyes.  Imagine God.  What do you see on the screen in your mind as you are honest with yourself about who you think God is?

Do you see a Being who harshly judges, throws lightning bolts, condemns people to their own desires, or exerts wrath upon everyone who won’t agree or bow a knee to Him in this very moment?  Perhaps in accordance with another tradition you see an angry God who calls you to punish infidels with torture or death unless they submit. To a far lesser degree, do you see a disapproving God because of how people live on earth and demands you do what you can to convince others of their errors?  Maybe you see an apathetic Being who created us and then left us on our own to work things out?  Is your God a Being who is so holy as to be unapproachable or conversely, beyond friendly as a very human equal buddy?  Or do you see One who overflows with grace and mercy?  These are among the ways people view God.

Now look in the mirror or use the selfie mode of your mobile phone camera.  What do you see looking back at you?  Someone who, as an Image-bearer, looks like God as you have imagined Him, or do you see someone totally different?

This devotional series for Lent, “Seeing His Love with New Eyes,”
is very personal to me.  
I wonder if it could be for you, too.

My heart wants to see the infinite love of God and always to feel loved like this, but my finite mind and conscience are an archive of 65 years on this planet, with my sinning the entire time. Maybe you would like to be free of condemnation too, and to know the love of God in new and personal ways.

We exercise many things for our health, but this exercise in our faith can do wonders for understanding God.  Begin with this exercise: Open your eyes to seeing God’s love in new ways. 

It’s not trite to say that “God is love.” (1 John 4:16)

Join me tomorrow as we see how sin has distorted our view of God.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.