Genesis 3:1-15
Reflect
During COVID-19, where have you felt loss? Your hobbies? Finances? Work? Health? Culture? Relationships? These losses reveal the pain of a part of your identity being stripped away. Today’s paramount passage decisively reveals that from this point forward, humans would attempt to determine, aside from God, what would be the “good life”. Confronted by the anxiety of encountering the serpent, their attempt to ease the anxiety by taking something “good” only increases their level of anxiety. Trying to cover up their nakedness, they resort to playing the blame game, revealing more how their attempt to living the “good life” has failed miserably. In our own culture, we continue to hide our insecurities by dressing up in the false masks which leads to false identities. Yes, we could likely teach from a book on how our identity is in Christ and then we encounter identity pain through COVID-19. We have had something from our identity snatched away, and this is painful. Pain and fruitfulness are inseparable. Nothing reveals our alliances more than our reaction to loss. Into this pain, Jesus is born in the Bethlehem of your identity. He does so to reconcile us with God, restore our true identity, and strengthen our resiliency. Where are you feeling identity loss? Prayerfully ask Jesus to heal that pain and to reveal the pathway of hope. I would love to listen to how Jesus is meeting you.
Pastor Dan
Pray
- Pray for the Prime Minister, Premier Kenney, Mayor Iveson, your MP, your MLA, and any other government officials God brings to your mind.
- Pray for Dave Schneider, our Youth Ministry Pastor.
- Pray for Karen Alksne, our Congregational Life Ministry Assistant.