The Renegade Doc Comments

My son and I were out mowing yesterday (he owns a lawn mowing service 30DollarCuts.com) and talking while driving.  His large deck riding mower died last week and he is running behind, trying to mow with smaller machines that take much longer.  Nor does he have the cash flow to buy a newer, large mower and doesn’t want to go further into debt to buy on credit.

We got into a discussion about economics and debt/credit and cash and this led to a discussion about how Father God plays into the mix.

He pointed out that “sin” is very simply the failure to TRUST Father to care, lead and direct us in the way best for us.  I totally agreed and use the word CONTROL to say the same thing (have posted previously about this).

We are born with a heart that from the get-go says, “I’m OK, I can deal with this, thank you,” and put it upon ourselves to take care of ourselves.  We don’t truly or deeply believe that Father a) really cares about us, b) has our best interest at heart, or c) is capable of doing anything about it if He really did care.

This is exactly the message with which the serpent deceived Eve.

This is exactly the response with which Adam responded when given the choice for Eve or for Father.

Adam did not truly believe that Father meant what he said when he stated “it is not good for a man to dwell alone.”  He did not believe that Father, having gone to the extreme of doing surgery to bring Eve to him the first time, would or could also do something extreme to make sure Eve would be able to remain with him.

No, he saw the predicament that he was in, that Eve had been disobedient and had caused a conflict, and rather than talking it over with Father and letting Him direct and provide and discuss solutions, said “I’m good here, I can handle this, I’m in control.”

Failure to trust led to failure to communicate and loss of relationship and that in turn led to living life on a lower plane.  Now there was sweat with labor, pain with childbirth, thorns from the earth.  Now there was covering up, blame, guilt, loss of relationship, living primarily in the physical with a little spirit thrown in (instead of the other way around) and death.

Now there was living by using our head, our knowledge, to figure things out, to be logical.

And guess what.

I and you and we still do it this way all the time!

I am especially bad with living this way when it comes to money.  The car needs a repair, I don’t have the money.  Out comes the plastic.  I can’t believe that Father will somehow provide.  So I am in debt and have become a slave to the creditor.  The rest of my life is on hold until the debt(s) are paid.  I cannot fulfill my greater purpose until what I owe everyone else is covered.  That is death.

We do it in religion.  While we say all the right words, we don’t really trust Father will provide for a life of fellowship together, so we build mausoleums we call “churches” and organize to make sure everything works out alright and set up rules of conduct and behavior to keep everything under control (that word again!).  And it is killing us deep inside.

And it is all so subtle, and so pervasive.  The quickest way to be enslaved in your heart once again, after having found some freedom and after having finally started to truly trust Father once again, is to hang around a religious person once again, as wonderful as they may be.

This control thing, this failure to trust, this thinking we can do it on our own is so deep that it needs a surgery to get it out.

This is exactly what Yeshua did.

His life showed us how to stay in relationship, in listening mode.  He did nothing that wasn’t first shown to him by Father.  His death was the surgery required to fix this deep-seated, inbred problem.  His resurrection was the healing, the bringing forth of the “Eve” that will complete us, and his Spirit sent after is the power that enables us to live the same way.

This Spirit, this life, will be one of Communion with Father, of Trust, of restoration of relationships, of openness/nakedness, without shame, without guilt, living once again from spirit and not just stuck in physical.

I want to live that way, how about you?

And my son’s lawn mowing?  Perhaps if the money for a bigger mower isn’t available it means Father is directing him away from cutting grass and into that which is even nearer and dearer to his deep heart.  Or perhaps there are some life lessons he needs to learn, some actions to take to generate the cash.  Either way, by listening and trusting like he has never done before, he will be drawn into Father’s heart – and his own.

Blessings,

Dr Jon