The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/2_samuel/13.htm

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again; the more I read the Bible, the more I recognize it as a manual on how “not to live” as opposed to “rules to live by”. And maybe I’m just desensitized, but the stories of the Bible are so old, they truly seem as if they are stories; ancient history. But if you stop and think about the characters in the Bible as real people like you and I, it shows just how bad times were back then.

We’ve seen before where the patriarchs have had multiple wives or wives with multiple concubines. This results in a family of siblings that are half brothers or half sisters. And this story is about that such arrangement.

David had a son and daughter, Absalom and Tamar, then a son Amnon from a different partner; wife or concubine. That made Tamar a half-sister to Amnon. And despite the fact that she was a blood relative, Amnon was in love with her.

Now, you can read for yourself, but this story turns out to involve a rape, incest, and murder. If we were to read such a story in the newspaper today, we would be horrified! But reading about it in the Bible, at least for me (I can’t speak for others), it’s “just another Bible story”. And that may be why many Christians are “lukewarm”, and no, I’m not being judgmental, I’m including myself in that category.

And why should we be shocked by these stories. Because it shows the great battle between Christ and Satan, and how it has went on for centuries, even millennia. Since the serpent (Satan) tempted Eve to draw her and Adam away from God, he has continued his fight for over 6.000 years now. And we are caught in the middle, living in that battle each and every day.

Satan tempts us to commit rape, incest, and murder, along with a long list of other sins, idolatry, breaking the Sabbath Day, theft, covetous and envy, lying and deception, immoral sexuality, (and where do I stop?) each and every day. And just like we rue the news reports of murder, gang violence, domestic violence, rape, sexual exploitation of children, etc, we should rue those other sins that “seem so minor”. But they are not minor.

I have a mentally handicapped gentlemen that lives with me; I am his guardian. Unfortunately he is a pathological liar, but he tells me he doesn’t lie, he “fibs”. To him, he’s not lying, he is doing something far less, something that is not wrong at all. Fortunately, I believe our merciful God will forgive him by default because he doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand right from wrong or the ability to make the right choices (that is why he has to have a guardian). Even though he is 63 years old, his brain functions as a 10 year old. And while he understands some rights from wrongs, he doesn’t have the capacity to understand the consequences of his actions.

But for most of us, we have that capacity. We know right from wrong, and we know the consequences. But we take them lightly. Some claim to be disbelievers, that they are ruled by the “universe” rather than by some “invisible God”, or “Sky Daddy” as most profane. Others think that they have plenty of time to repent, have fun now and they’ll come to Christ later. Others have succumbed to the false teachings that “Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so we have total grace from that day forward”.

But our sins of today are no different than the sins of Absalom and Amnon. And if they continued their separation from God until they died, they will likely not be able to withstand His Glory at resurrection time.

We need prayer. We need to pray for ourselves, but more importantly we need to pray for each other. Just yesterday, I was on a Christian Facebook Page where someone posted that Jesus has been here from creation, all along, and if found throughout the Bible. Of course there was an onslaught of comments from the other side, “Harry Potter can be found throughout all of the Harry Potter books”, and “Winnie the Pooh can be found throughout all of the “Winnie the Pooh books”.

I finally commented that, I wasn’t interested in crochet, therefore I don’t follow any crochet Facebook Pages. The fact that these “non-believers” are following a Christian Facebook Page tells me they have doubts in their mind, that deep down inside they are interest in Christianity. Satan is pulling them each and every day, making them doubt the existence of God, but somehow they are not convinced. And that those “non-believers” who are following a Christian Facebook page need our prayers to find the light.

And they do. And we do. And you do. And I do. We all need prayer, especially as close as we are to Christ’s second coming. Time is short.

Let’s all pray for each other.

Amen.