It finally happened. I finally paid over $3.00 a gallon for gas. Up until this week, I had always been able to avoid the $3.00 mark. It was sort of a game I played to try to beat the system. I would pass gas station after gas station with prices like $3.04, $3.06, $3.09 and finally find one for under 3. But this week, one couldn't be found. Finally they beat me.
Its hard to believe that gas prices have soared so high isn't it? I think the thing that bothers me most is I have no control over it. It would be great if I could protest and it have some effect. Or, how about boycotting? Oh sure, like they would really miss the minuscule amount of cash I spend. Perhaps it would make me feel good, but in the grand scheme of things it would change nothing. Besides, boycotting would mean I would have to buy a bike or walk everywhere. The truth is I am dependent on gasoline to do life. And although I can cut back, there is only so much I can cut back. So, here I am at the mercy of a powerful system that doesn't know me, doesn't care about me, and is driven only by their desire to have more. More power, more control, and more money.
This world's system takes after its father. Our enemy the devil. You can see his signature all over it. Here's how he operates. Picture Adam and Eve in the garden and along comes the sly one. He paints a picture of this fruit that makes it tempting for the first time. Never before this moment do we find that our two Eden dwellers are even drawn to this tree. But this day is different, there's an enticement, an allurement. And so they stop to check it out. Convinced that life would be better with it and convinced that they can't live without it, they indulge.
Have you ever wondered what satan's real motive was here? I've often thought that he was so ticked off at God that he just wanted to destroy what God loved most. But you know, I really don't think that's it. There's probably know way to know for sure, but consider this. Have you ever met anyone that is power hungry? Someone who is driven to be in control? We all have. The issue that got satan's tail kicked out of the presence of God was this very thing in him. He wanted to be in charge. He longed to be number one and wanted the power that came with it. Here's my point. Those driven by this thing, find life and energy in it. They can't do without it. They have to have it at all cost. Satan is no different. In fact, he's the author of it. Could it be that in the garden that day, his insatiable need to be the one in control was the motive? Since He couldn't manage to take God's throne, perhaps he could take control of this new creation of God? Could it be that his enticement of Eve and the subsequent fall of her and her husband, would feed his need to be in charge?
Whatever the motive, the fact is, in the garden that day, he controlled and manipulated things and scripture tells us that sin began to reign in our bodies. Did you catch that? Sin began to rule and reign. Sin took charge. It began to control mankind. Check this out. After this event with Adam and Eve the next recorded sin in scripture is murder. Now, I'm not saying there wasn't any more sin after the fall and up until Cain killed his brother but I find it pretty crazy that in one generation sin went from taking forbidden fruit to murdering a sibling. How does that kind of thing happen? Sin is running the show.
Adam and Eve were under God's authority and with that comes true freedom and liberty. They were so free that they could choose to even reject God or not. When they believed satan's lies and then acted on those lies, however, they came under his authority which brings with it bondage and domination. Scripture tells us that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty," and I think its safe to say that where the spirit of the enemy is there is bondage.
Whenever we give power over to someone who truly loves us and cares for us, we will find true freedom. I'm not talking about someone who says they love us, I'm talking about someone who truly loves us and has our best interests at heart. Someone who wants to see us become all that we were created to be and will do anything they can to assist us to get there. In that kind of relationship, we will find encouragement, life, liberty and peace. On the other hand, when we give power over to someone who doesn't truly love us but instead is only looking out for number 1. Someone who is driven to succeed at all cost. Someone who is driven by the need to have power and to be in control, we will find bondage. And the more power we give them the more dependent we become and more dominated we begin to feel. Eventually, if things aren't corrected, we will become completely dominated and controlled by them.
Thank God, he sent Jesus to correct things for us concerning sin and it's dominion over us. Unfortunately, this world's system still operates that way. Yep, because we have given control and allowed ourselves to become dependent on others, we find ourselves under their control every time we go to the pump. And with every dime we spend they get more power and we become more dependent.
I could go on and on, but I've got to wrap things up. I've got a meeting I've got to get to and I have to stop for gas on the way.
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