12-24-2015

 Good Morning All!!        

        Genesis 3:10; “And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

   “Go and hide.”  We were playing a game of hide and seek with my grandson a while back.  He looked in earnest for a good spot to hide while we counted to ten.  As we got to eight he kind of panicked and when we hit ten; he tried to plaster himself up against the door.  If he had been a chameleon it might have worked but his blue jeans and green shirt against a light oak door didn’t blend in.  He thought he was hidden but in reality, everyone could see him. 

    There were other times when he hid behind a window blind but his shoes stuck out. He put a blanket over his head and sat in the middle of the floor.  Even when he does find a good spot; he giggles and laughs so you can hear him.  Someday, he will be good at hide and seek but not today.  We too try and play hide and seek.  We try to hide from God but we are as successful as my grandson is.

    In our verse, Adam tried to hide from God after he and Eve had sinned.  They hid from God, not as a game, but out of fear.  They had broken their loving relationship with God and they had replaced it with one that was filled with selfishness and self-righteousness.  They had attempted to replace God with themselves.  They tried to elevate themselves to be God and when the true God came, they tried to hide.  Of course God knew where they always were and what they had already committed. 

    Often times we try to hide from God as well.  We deny his existence in an attempt to hide.  We deny the severity of our actions in an attempt to hide from him.  We hide but in our hiding; we are only fooling and hurting ourselves.  God seeks us out, not to punish but to restore.  God seeks us out because of his love for us.  God comes to us to bring us hope.

    This is why Jesus came into the world.  This is why God became man; in order that he might seek us out and find us where we are.  God seeks us out and gathers us in.  He accepts us as we are but in his love, does not leave us there but draws us to himself because of his great love for us.  He comes to make his blessings flow to everyone.  His blessings are poured out on all.  This he does because he loves us and he wants us to spend all of eternity with him in eternal bliss. 

    God seeks you out and finds you, wherever you are, to bring you home into his loving family.  He seeks you out so that you don’t have to live in fear.  He seeks you out to keep you safe.  He seeks you out so that you may know his comfort and peace.  May you always know the peace of God in your heart and in your life.

Gracious Father, we give you thanks for the blessings of life and salvation.  Keep us in your loving arms.  Be with those who continue to hide from your love.  Bring them safely under your wing.  Deliver them we pray.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret