Walking with God

Last night we visited a church in Littleton, CO. The pastor was doing a series on Hebrews 11, going through heroes of faith. Enoch was the person he talked about and I learned a few new things that had never jumped out at me before....

Enoch walked with God. I've always been drawn to the fact that those simple words were spoken about Enoch: "he walked with God." It sometimes has made me envious, and other times I am in awe of that fact. Oh to have that be my epitaph!

But what really jumped out at me last night were two things:

1. Enoch didn't always walk with God.
Genesis 1: 21,22 say "When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters."
It is never too late to start walking with God! Enoch didn't walk with God until AFTER his wife gave birth to his firstborn son when he was 65! We aren't told what happened to change his life. It may have been the simple change that happens when many people become parents and all of a sudden they don't feel so wise, mature, or capable of raising up a man being in this crazy world. This change causes them to look beyond themselves and search for meaning, answers, and the true reason for living- God. Whatever happened to change Enoch seems to be pretty drastic since from then on, for the next 300 years he walked with God and even walked so closely to God that he didn't even taste death, but God simply took him to heaven with Him. Can you say, wow?!? I can't even imagine. This close walk leads me to second thing that I noticed...

2. Adam DID begin walking with God.
Adam walked personally with God daily, but because of his sin in the garden of Eden, and his lack of walking with God after that he wasn't even mentioned in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11! If you read and calculate the years Adam and his descendants, including Enoch, lived you will find that Adam lived up until just a few years before Enoch was "translated" to heaven. This means that Adam had centuries to get back into fellowship with God, but for some reason he never did, or at least not to a closeness like before. He even was able to see Enoch walking with God for over 200 years but still never changed! I think that's tragic. He died just as any other man when he started out his life in such a unique way- the first man who walked and talked with God in the garden of Eden!

I guess I never thought about these two men together before and how different their lives were even though they lived at the same time. It encourages me to finish strong and not depend on my rich Christian heritage, or whatever I've done for and with God in the past. If I'm not walking with God NOW it won't matter. Secondly, it gives me hope for loved ones who aren't yet walking with God. I still have hope they can turn to God and walk with Him and please him just as Enoch did. What do the lives of these two men tell you?

Choose

I read this in my devotions today. It was worth sharing...


"Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. (John 12:1-6)"

The unanswerable word “Why?!” echoes within my soul as I read the tragic account of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

Why?

Judas had spent three years with Jesus! He had seen Him heal bodies, touch broken lives and raise the dead. Judas had heard the Gospel of love.

Why?

Judas laughed and shared life with Jesus. Judas has seen the miraculous multiplication of loaves and fishes ... he has seen a once raging sea become calm ... and has seen demons flee at the voice of the One Who proclaimed, “Let there be light!”

Why?!

Does Judas even have a heart?!

Judas went to the chief priests ... they did not come to him. He went to them.

I have always wondered if Judas betrayed Jesus because of his own addiction. I wonder if Judas was compelled to sell Jesus to murderers because of a compulsion that he was never able to conquer.

Judas was in charge of the money box and it was known among the disciples that Judas often pilfered from the treasury that was meant to be shared. We don’t know if the disciples confronted Judas, or if Jesus confronted him. What we do know is that Judas had an addiction that had never been dealt with.

Judas could have taken his weakness to Jesus! He could have confessed, asked for forgiveness and for power. Instead the insidious and lethal addiction stayed hidden and thus overpowered the ability of Judas to walk by faith and not by sight.

You may not sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver but your addictions and issues will cause you to make wrong choices. You will do things that will shame you and lead you down a pathway of remorse and guilt.

Satan will take advantage of your weakness. He did it to Judas and he will do it to you.

Maybe it is time for you to make a choice that Judas never made ... go to Jesus. Ask Him for forgiveness and power. You will be amazed at how it will change the end of your story!