"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 1 Corinthians 7:1
Mankind was freely given and identity through creation, in Adam and Eve, in the Image of God. But becaue of the lie of Satan mankind chose to achieve their own identity to become like God and to find life and wisdom apart from Him. So in our first physical parents Adam and Eve and our second spritual father Satan we were all born into this world with the desire to achieve our own identity and find life and wisdom apart form God. This is where the choice to fear man or fear God enters time and space. Do we trust in what God says, who cannot lie, or do we trust in what man says, who is born of the the father of lies. If you can measure sin, I belive that the fear of man is one of the greatest sins of our time. We choose to be directed by what people say and think and not what God has to already said. We believe in the Big Bang, apes that turned into humans, positive thinking, plurality of Gods, spirituality, self esteem (pride), the power of knowledge, etc... All of these things build up self and diminish God, they cause us to trust in ourselves and not in our Creator. They have a false sense of hope and reality but always end in despair, the need for more, and death. Knowledge and wisdom of this world has entitled men to believe somehow that we have all the answers and we can overcome what Christians know to be the curse of sin. But history shows that man, government, power, wisdom, education, military power cannot reverse the evil that exists in the heart of man and in the world as a whole. So in turn we listen to man and not to God. We trust in man and not in God, and we are all guilty of this.
Most people in America would say they are free, that they are not slaves, that they do not serve a pharoah or a ceasar, but I would say differently, I would say that they are slaves to fear, the fear of man. Jesus teaches that the one who sins is a slave to sin. They rely, trust, and believe in the wisdom of man and neglect the wisdom of God. We revolve our lives, our finances, our families, our labor, our goals, our philosophies, our fears around mankind and not the word of God.
"For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD." 1 Corithians 1:19-31
And this is not to say that we should neglect the things of man, but they should have no authority against the things of God and the thoughts and plans he has towards us. Gods thoughts and plans for us was to preach the Gospel in Belize and if we would have put our trust and fear in the things of man we would have missed out on the things God has established for us. After all the warnings and attempts of persuasion, and the lies of the enemy we chose to trust in God and not in man, and in the end we came to understand that it was all hype, all sensationalism, and lies trying to thwart the plans of God in the lives of those He has created and chosen. To the demise of many, most will regard the things of man and miss out on the salvation of God. They will trust in the idea that there is no God, or that everyone will go to heaven, and listen to the lies of man, and not the truths of God. They will end up neglected so great a salvation, so great a love, and will chose to pursue and achieve their own identity, instead of freely receiving a new identity, life, and creation through the grace and gift of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Day three was a pretty straight forward of driving, peace, and safety, and got me thinking about how I in someways and at some times began to listen to man and doubt God, which was evil and faithless. But even when I am faithless God is still faithful, and I praise him for that. We drove through some beautiful country, next to a volcano and down the side of an awesome mountain. We did run into some adversity regarding are camping location in Villahermosa. Both sites were no longer available so we stopped at a Holiday Inn Express and enjoyed the amenities. Tiff and Mo slept in the room and I slept in the parking lot with the Dogs. Our first two stays were at higher altitude and were somewhat cold, but this night was at sea level and much hotter and humid. I fell asleep to the sound of two panting dogs, traffic, and people enjoying the resturant near by, but actually had the best night sleep of the trip so far. We enjoyed nice showers and a nice breakfast of beans and eggs in the morning. We also filled up on water, and we thank our friends Kate and Charlie for the water filtration pump, it has come in handy, although we still have texas water in the tank of our vanagon. And I almost forgot, at one of our gas station stop we ran into a family on their way to cancun who were originally from whereelse, Boulder, Colorado, who now live in mexico. And we also had another American come up to us from Arizona who saw the plate and he too was originally from boulder colorado. This was our second encouter with americans, but this time three groups all originally from Colorado.
Please in your life do not waste your life achieving some false identity, repent and freely recieve the identity that God has given through His Son, one of righteousness, hope and peace.
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