Leviticus 26:3a,11-13 MSG“If you live by my decrees and obediently keep my commandments, … 11-13 “I’ll set up my residence in your neighborhood; I won’t avoid or shun you; I’ll stroll through your streets. I’ll be your God; you’ll be my people. I am God, your personal God who rescued you from Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I ripped off the harness of your slavery so that you can move about freely.
John 1:14 MSG The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
Revelation 21:3-5 MSG I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making His home with men and women! They’re His people, He’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”
Observation
It has been God’s intention from the beginning to dwell with His humans. He intended to have a close personal relationship with us from the beginning. He created the Garden of Eden as His perfect neighborhood to share with His creation. He made one rule for Adam and Eve – allow God alone to determine what is good and what is evil. But temptation came along and they bit. There goes the neighborhood!
God did not give up. He tried again to find a way to walk among us by making a covenant with His people. Just obey me and I will pour out my blessings upon you, including dwelling among you. Despite the miraculous deliverance from Egypt and walking on dry land through the Red Sea, His people kept taking back the right to determine good and evil – “doing what seemed right in their own eyes” over and over again.
Still God did not give up. He sent Jesus, the Word made flesh, God Himself, to establish a new covenant. This one would be unbreakable because it would be between God and the Man Jesus Christ (essentially, Himself). This allows us to become a home in the neighborhood in which God dwells when we choose to accept the sacrifice of the Cross and dwell in Christ. God is redeeming His original neighborhood one home, one person at a time.
Impact on Me
I often wonder why God made us human and risked His relationship with us by giving us this free will. He could have made us anything and surely something with a greater tendency to submission and obedience. However, He made the choice to give us choices so that, when we did choose Him, when we did trust Him with determining good and evil, it would mean so much more.
So, to become a completely remodeled, redeemed home in God’s neighborhood, I need to submit my rights, my choices, my obedience, to Him. I need to put my life up as an offering, a sacrifice, embracing what He asks me to do as what is best for me, so He can do what will fulfill His will and purpose, what will benefit His plan for all humankind. All He is asking me to do is allow my life, my culture, my choices on earth to be as His are in Heaven rather than adopting the culture native to this earth. Just pass by the tree, Liz, and trust Me, trust Me.
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2 MSG)”
Prayer
Lord God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Redeemer, Lover of my soul, give me wisdom, knowledge, understanding and the strength to choose well and grow in the culture of Heaven. I pray that You by Your Holy Spirit will grab my hand when I reach out to betray You by doing what seems right in my own eyes rather than walking in the truth of what You say is good or evil. May I be changed from the inside out to become a place of refuge and peace for those You are bringing out of darkness into Your marvelous light. Make it so, in Jesus’ name.