Life Nourishment Plan

It's amazing how many things are written today about how our lives can be improved. I find it ironic that there are so many health gurus out there, and most of them can't agree on some pretty fundamental stuff. I saw an article yesterday on how actor Ashton Kutcher was taken to the hospital with pancreatic issues for following a "fruitarian" diet (a subset of veganism). He was doubled over in pain. Also ironic is that he was trying to "get into character" in doing so. He is starring in a film about Steve Jobs who (how ironic is this going to get?) died of pancreatic cancer. On the flip side, there's fellow Los Angeles famous dude Kobe Bryant, who follows a traditional diet but makes sure that his beef is grass-fed and his eggs from free-range chickens. He's 35 and still playing ridiculous basketball (which is more necessary than ever for the Lakers these days).

There's also, in contrast to Kobe "Beef" Bryant (hardy har har), guys like Herschel Walker and Tony Gonzalez... vegetarians. Walker is actually pushing 50 and still looks like he could lace 'em up and hit someone. Seriously, he still is (apparently) doing his famous 3,500 sit-ups and 1,500 pushups per day, plus squats and running, and trains in Mixed Martial Arts.

These athletes are amazing specimens. On the normal human side of things (average Joes like myself), we're given a lot of advice on how to be healthy and well-nourished. As I read through Genesis 2 today, I got dwelled a bit on the subject of health. The Man and the earth itself had a nourishment plan.

For people, what is obvious enough is that they were given a basic vegan diet to subsist on at first: fruits, nuts, grains, vegetables (water would be the drink of choice, I'd think). The combination would make for enough protein, vitamins, minerals, etc., to sustain a balanced life. A side note might be added, that is that those plants in the Garden of Eden may not have been like what we have now, so I'm not sure we can compare "apples-to-apples" here (now's plants vs. then's plants). Also, our bodies have likely changed quite a bit. We aren't 14 feet tall anymore and we can't live 900+ years as-is.

Consider how different life would be if that plan was still in place. We'd be a lot... I mean a LOT healthier people. Doctors? No need. Medicine--zippo. I imagine a diet that would be extremely flavorful and colorful. Considering what you have to do to cook anything (destroy something dead for a fire, for instance), I imagine that eating raw would be incredible (compared to today, when the thought of some raw plants doesn't sound appealing at all... raw soybeans, anyone? OK, maybe for some people...).

Also, if there was no predatory instincts. No need to kill anything for food, or prevent life from emerging (such as for eggs). The very relationship between people and between people and animals would be drastically different. I wonder what kind of teeth sharks would have if... well, I digress.

Think of how earth itself was nourished. Dew. Springs of water. Water gives life to earth even today. But how? Rain. Springs have something to do with it, but not like they did in Genesis 2. It says there that God hadn't sent any rain yet. Today, we need rain. But with rain comes calamity. Storms. Lightning and thunder, hail and sleet and snow, tornadoes and hurricanes. And we have to have these things or we don't have any life either.

When I get a glimpse into how good things were before sin, it should make me mourn sin all the more. But it should also give me hope into how good things will be, for the end of the Bible teaches of an earth made new... creation re-newed. To see how good it was is to see how good it will be.

Lord, help me to take care of this body, as much as possible, according to Your plan--how I'm nourished, and how I work and exercise. Help me to also take care of this earth, as much as possible, according to Your plan. Help me to experience the results of doing so, and to see the earth itself around me benefit from this. You gave us something so amazing! Teach me to celebrate it with gusto!

Genesis 2:1-3 - When Things Get Perfect

Sabbath has always had some puzzling stuff attached to it in my life. Growing up Seventh-day Adventist, here are some of the things I heard and experienced. Maybe some sound familiar to you as well.

• We're supposed to keep it and remember it. I didn't really understand what that meant as a kid, and I'm not sure anyone else did either. It was a phrase usually associated with what we weren't supposed to do.
• It was a day that we often went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway or the surrounding areas.
• I remember when once, as a kid, I picked up a football (or something to that effect), and overheard a female adult voice behind me start singing "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy," so I immediately put it down and went back to being bored and counting down the minutes until sundown. By the way, the voice did not belong to my mother. She did a pretty good job of not making me feel like Sabbath had to be like this.
• I remember sometimes heated discussions among youth group leaders and/or parents about what kind of service projects were appropriate to do on Sabbath with the youth group. It almost seemed like we were paralyzed by fear over what we should or shouldn't do to help people on the Sabbath.

Those are a few of the things that come quickly to mind.

I looked at some key words today in Geneses 2:1-3. God has fulfilled creation (finished in most versions) by the seventh day. There's a sense of accomplishment inherent in that word, which is "kalah" in Hebrew. Not entirely something new, but I like the reminder of what had happened, and that it wasn't just that God stopped creating in entirely, but had accomplished the creation.

God rests on the seventh day (Hebrew "shabbath"--where we get the word from). It is to repose, to desist from exertion. But even more, it is a cause to cease and to celebrate. Well, there was only one thing to celebrate in this context: God's accomplished creation. Still nothing entirely new here, but I still like the thought that comes with this as it was written: celebrate. Hey, being bored wasn't the plan after all! Sleeping may be a part of it, but it isn't the crux of the day for sure.

God blesses the seventh day. By implication (in the word "barak" in Hebrew), it is to actually bless God as an act of adoration, and to bless man as a benefit. Adoring God on this day benefits people! It could mean to thank, to praise, to congratulate, or to salute. So Sabbath is to adore God for HIs accomplished creation, and for God to benefit people. It's getting better.

Finally, God makes it a holy day, or he sanctifies ("qadash") it. This got to me. Strong's puts it this way: to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self), __ wholly.

Wow! There's a new idea here: perfection.

The creation as it was happening, God calls good. At the end of the sixth day, He looks at the accomplished creation and calls it very good: land, sea, lights, atmosphere, fish, birds, animals, plants, people. But he never calls anything perfect (which to me is the word that best describes something that is sanctified--made pure and holy by God) until the 7th day when He basically creates nothing at all!

It brings to mind a couple things. First, WE don't make Sabbath holy. God does that. We can defile it, for sure, just as we have defiled just about everything else about His creation. 

Second, Saturday (the 7th day) is NOT holy in and of itself. It did not become holy simply because it existed. It became holy, once again, because of the decision of God.

Finally, what is "Holy Sabbath"? A formula comes to mind: HOLY SABBATH = PEOPLE ADORING GOD FOR HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS + GOD BENEFITING PEOPLE.

We adore God intentionally, not haphazardly. On such a day, we do it by setting aside everything else, just like God did, and intentionally adore Him for what He has done. 

God benefits us, and in adoring Him we recognize He is doing this. He is granting us a chance to repose (that's not an inaccurate description of the Biblical word for rest, but it is incomplete if left by itself). He is granting us renewal. He is granting us even accelerated growth in Him, if you think about it, for single-minded focus on God will always bring us closer in relationship to Him. He grants us cleansing in Him as well, righteousness in Him alone (a reminder that more work does not make us holy).

Why do I love God more today? Because He gave me a day that is beyond anything I could have imagined. Because His creation is so very good. Because in Him I am clean. Because I am loved. May Sabbath become a special reminder of this.

Genesis 1 - Incubation to Creation

This morning I tried reading Genesis 1 with new eyes. I feel God gave me a new perspective today that makes a lot of sense.

In verse 2, the Spirit of God is shown hovering over the face of the waters. I like how The Message puts it. "God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss."

To brood: hover, bulk large, loom, dwell, cover, incubate, hatch, stew, grizzle. The word in the Bible means to "hover above." The idea that comes to mind for me is incubate. It's like a mother who is about to see her own creation--a life that started within her!--come to fruition.

Psalm 139 reflects this idea. "Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God--you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration--what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, it by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day" (verses 13-16, The Message).

The earth is made in those six days. God speaks. God made. God saw. God named (some things... earth life he does not name). God blessed (birds and fish, interestingly, and humans). The creation follows a pattern of speaking, making, in some cases naming, and evaluating. The word doesn't say that things were perfect. It says they were good--agreeable, pleasant. After six days, it was emphatically good (still not perfect).

With humans, the plan for their existence is put out there before they are made. They are made in God's image, godlike, reflecting God' nature, male and female. They are given directives after being made, to prosper, reproduce, fill earth, take charge, be responsible. Everything about the creation of human beings shows intentionality and purpose. But I see something else.

Care and concern for the most amazing life made.

The Spirit brooded at the beginning of the story. At the end, God looks over everything he made and calls it very good.

For nine months, two separate times, my wife carried a child inside of her--a nine month incubation period, if you will, before new life emerged. Everything had to be ready before the birth of our children. A room. A crib. Baby-proofing the house. Diapers. Baby food preparers. And that's just the stuff in the house! Inside her, her own body was preparing to give birth and to care for life after it was born. She would give birth with the capability of nourishing that life as long as it was needed.

For nine months she "brooded" over what she couldn't see, as it were. At the end, BOTH of us--mother and father, mommy and daddy--saw that new life and as far as we were concerned, it was VERY GOOD.

I think of the creation week a little differently today. I think of the Spirit brooding over the nothingness that would become the grand "something." I think of God--Father, Son (the Word from the beginning, according to John), and Spirit--looking upon the completed creation and proclaiming it, like new parents almost, VERY GOOD.

We were made with intentionality and purpose. Those ideas are frequently shared and thought about and preached about. Perhaps it's time to also consider, alongside this, the unbelievable and parental care and concern God had for us as the creation formed to not only sustain itself, but to sustain the humanity that would in turn care for it.

This blog is called "Falling in Love Again" (FILA). I'm coming back to it because I am seeking anew the love for God that needs to increase in my life. Today, I fall more in love with Him because of His extreme care and concern and intentionality and purpose for me.