God is doing some cool things in the second chapter of Genesis. The earth, sky, and everything in them were finished in just six days. As the seventh day dawned, he blessed it making it a holy day. God made it holy not for going shopping, not for cleaning the house and not event for watching football. God made it holy for rest from all the work need to create the world.
After the seventh day God was rested and ready to go! Water came up from the earth and spread all over the ground. Then God took the dry earth the dust from the ground, with it he made a man. Breathing the breath of life into his nose God made man a living thing.
Job 14:1-2 tells us that life is short, and that our lives will be full of trouble. We are like a flower that grows quickly and then dies away. We are like a shadow that is here for a short time and then is gone.
On this very first day of Lent we are reminded of the dust that our bodies come from and the dust that our bodies will return to. To understand this is to understand that there is a bleakness to life and that the dust that we are is short lived and faces many troubles.
On this very first day of Lent we come with a reminder of hope. Hope that because God breathed life into us, we are more that dust. We are more that dust because God made a covenant not with the dust that is short and full of trouble, rather God’s covenant is with the breath of life the very soul and essence of who we are.
God’s covenant is given to us by his son Jesus. Jesus who God sent on this earth in the form of the same dust that we are made of to live a short life, to encounter trouble as he taught the word and to die on the cross. Jesus who God sent on this earth in the form of the same dust that we are made of defeated death with the covenant message from John 14: 2-6 that “In My Father’s house there are many mansions.” But because your breath of life believes in the way, the truth and life which is Jesus you and I have a room in God’s mansion. Not as the dust that we are today but as the breath of life that God give us for eternity.
Lent these 40 days that we will experience together and on our is a time to focus not on the dust that we are but on the breath of life that God gave us, and Jesus came to save so that we can have everlasting life.
So, like we are more than dust, Lent is more that giving things up. As we see in Genesis 2, we serve a God of action. Since we are like God and not dust let us resolve to use these 40 days to fast and to pray but also get closer to God by being in action. Action by giving our time, talents, and treasure to causes that make a difference. Action by performing random acts of kindness. Action like taking the weight of grudges, slights and evilness by people who have done you wrong off your shoulders and forgive them. And while you are forgiving others don’t forget to forgive yourself.
God is doing some cool things in the second chapter of Genesis. God wants to do some cool things with you during these 40 days of Lent, for with the breath of God’s life in you we are more that dust.
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