Has God indeed said...?

My sense is that we, in the church, are educated beyond our obedience. And that restraint, though necessary, is not the missing ingredient.

What we need is guts.

The electronic PC culture has turned us into tame sycophants, observers, courtiers and attendants, rather than pioneers, pathfinders and persuaders.

From the beginning the God-given mandate was to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion..." (Genesis 1:28). Brute language that, in today’s culture, seems threatening and presumptive. We are however, for the most part, really nice folks who live decent lives, rather than bold victors with a mission to reclaim the Earth and its inhabitants under orders from our Creator-King.

In eating from the tree, we submitted to another entity who had no interest in seeing us fulfill that mandate. The serpent’s lie in the garden, in the form of a question, is the same lie today... “Has God indeed said…?" (Genesis 3:1).

The subsequent shame and disorientation caused us to cover ourselves, inhibiting our ability to be fruitful and to multiply. It rendered us useless in fulfilling the mandate established for us. Although we had been created in the very image of God, we submitted to a low-life being that lacked the reproductive power and potential of Our Creator. Spiritual vertigo set in and we spun until Jesus came into our lives.

It took the shameless, sinless Son of God and man to redeem us, restoring our glory and re-establishing our mandate, setting our feet upon the Solid Rock. “It is finished” (John 19:30) from the cross and “It is done” (Revelation 21:6) from the throne re-declared the intent of God and countered the question the enemy posed.

"Yes!", we may boldly declare, "God has indeed said".