Bible Fetish

The Bible on Love, Hardwork and Church | June 18, 2009

We Are Not A Cursed People

 

Genesis 3-4

Gensis 3:16-19

16 Unto the woman he  said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

In the bible, Eve was cursed because she encouraged Adam to eat from the tree of life. She was cursed with: a painful conception, her husband having her desire, and her husband having the power. God cursed Adam with having to till and care for the ground to get his food. I say just because Adam and Eve got cursed doesn’t mean we should have to suffer. Today we have adapted to these curses, and we can look at these curses as gifts. Just think about it, all the things that are happening today either makes us stronger as individuals or makes us appreciate life more.  All the pain a woman has to go through for child birth allows us to take bringing a child into the world more seriously.  If women could have children as easy as slipping off a dress from Nordstrom, would we appreciate them as much? We’d probably be dropping them all over the place. Abandoned children would be so commonplace, when we saw one, we’d shake our head and say, ‘oh there goes another one. ’  Another example, men should be powerful. They are evolutionally designed to be powerful. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in balanced relationships. The old saying goes, behind every strong man is a strong woman, but it does not go behind every weak man is a strong woman. What hardworking, independent woman today wants to be bothered with a man she can run all over? They’re pratically useless.

Genesis 4:4-9

4 And Abel, he also brough of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Let’s face it. Hard work is going to reap you benefits. Nothing else.  Even the NBA realized that when they did their recent campaign during the play-offs. Check it out.

If you’re not willing to work hard, then you can’t get mad at someone else for getting the promotion instead of you. Abel brought his first-fruits of labor to God and was rewarded with his praise. Cain brought God whatever he felt like. I’m willing to bet he knew that he was supposed to bring his first-fruits of labor to God just like Abel knew. Then Cain had the nerve to be mad at Abel because Abel did well for himself. Don’t be afraid to work hard in life and always give your best. In a way we’re always working for ourselves, but someone else gets our labor. Steve Pavlina wrote something great on his website:

Strong challenge is commonly connected with strong results. Sure you can get lucky every once in a while and find an easy path to success. But will you be able to maintain that success, or is it just a fluke? Will you be able to repeat it? Once other people learn how you did it, will you find yourself overloaded with competition? When you discipline yourself to do what is hard, you gain access to a realm of results that are denied everyone else. The willingness to do what is difficult is like having a key to a special private treasure room.

Don’t believe Steve Pavlina? Check out these other great articles: Secrets of Greatness and Eureka! It Really Takes Years of Hard Work

Song of Solomon 3-4

Song of Solomon 4:5-11

5 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lillies. 6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. 7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Armana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the moutains of the leopards. 9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! 11 Thy lips, o my spouse, drop as the honey-comb; honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

A symbol of Purity

God is love, so why wouldn’t he believe that faithful love is the most beautiful thing on earth? I love the Song of Solomon because it is a LOVE STORY. It is a tale about a woman who remains true to the one she loves even though she is trying to be seduced by a king (Solomon). Dr. Andrew Corbitt has this interpretation on his website.  King Solomon lists all these things that he finds beautiful about the girl he is trying to woo:  her breasts, her lips, her face, but forgets about the intelligence factor. What’s a beautiful box with no gift inside? A big disappointment, just like a beautiful head with nothing, but air. The man doesn’t even touch on her purity. There is nothing more beautiful than a good woman. King Solomon wouldn’t have found her to be so fair if she was sleeping with the whole town, while at the same time being mean, loud and disrespectful. Since King Solomon wanted such a beautiful, pure woman, he should have been more pure himself. Maybe if he had been, she wouldn’t have talked about her shepard the whole time King Solomon was trying to woo her with “ornaments” 1:11 Life lesson when it comes to dating: If you want a king/queen, then you have to put yourself in that light. If you want a man/woman with manners, then you have to have manners.

 Matthew 3-4

Matthew 3: 11

11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.

John the Baptist was a great man, but what I admire about him the most is that he was a humble man. When he heard that Jesus was coming, and he was more powerful than him, he didn’t complain and ask why he couldn’t be Jesus. He went out and proudly proclaimed the great one’s coming, understanding that his purpose was great as well. We all have something great to contribute to this world.

Matthew 4:1

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

If you are constantly being tempted off your path of righteousness or whatever,  maybe it’s your diet, don’t worry you will prevail. Everyone is tempted. Even Jesus was tempted by the Devil. So don’t feel bad if you’re tempted and slip up. We all are tempted everyday, so stay strong.

Matthew 4:11

Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Going to church, reading about the bible, hanging around people that can teach you more are important. Take every opportunity that  is presented to you to be ministered to. Even Jesus was ministered to, and if Jesus needed to be ministered to, then guess what? We do to. Some of the best moments of “Jesus in my life” were encountering random moments of wisdom while I’m walking on the street. I never turn down a preaching that makes good sense, whether it’s from a homeless dude, a college student, a worker at Starbucks, who knows? A wiseman comes in many forms.

Everyone Needs To Be Ministered To