The Answer Lies in the Origin

The Answer Lies in the Origin

3/18/18

The root of a problem always comes at the beginning of the story but many times is lost during the situations that succeed the origin.  It is then time to begin digging for the truth again and sometimes this process can be a painful journey for at some point along the way hurtful scenarios have to be encountered.  It is possible to figure out many of our issues if we are willing to give up our selfish behavior and seek for the deep truth about our lives.  God has provided this type of truth findings through the Bible for it gives us so much information about our lives that if we apply its Word of Life to our lives God assures us that He will help us return to His favor for all of eternity.  If we do not ask for God’s guidance then our problems shall only compound and as we clip off the superficial conditions but continue to flourish in the sinful ways of the world and no healing will be possible.

When I was receiving this topic and its contents God spoke and said to me to list a tragedy as an example to use to explain how such incidents were not present in the beginning.  I received this topic a few weeks ago and since time has elapsed there have been numerous tragedies that have crossed our television screens in this country alone.  Countless others have occurred with no coverage what-so-ever and still, are not even known outside of personal accounts.  What does this have to do with the origin of the answer to our problems?  The answer is simple but we have made it a complex issue based upon selfish reasoning and worldly limited truth and while these personal tragedies may not have affected us on an individual level as of now, we must understand that at some point they could and there is an answer as to why such things occur.  God knows that humans shall face tragedy after tragedy but He also wants us to understand that if we place our lives in His hands and live under His Covenant alone He is faithful to protect us from such tragedies through His Laws and Love.

A few days ago we all were witness to an event that was incorporated all throughout our nation when students from schools around the nation led a protest against gun control.  For the most part, this activity was done peacefully but not in all areas was this peaceful atmosphere a true statement for in some areas it quickly became a political statement and in other areas schools did not allow students to participate.  I took advantage of this time to make a quick comment about a picture that I saw with kids kneeling with their heads bowed in a school hallway.  I made a quick comment about prayer and boy the results and comments from others began to pour in my inbox, and none of them were positive.  I knew I would not be a popular person for that statement but even in time of protest the words and actions form those people were divisive on many levels.  As the day progressed no one was coming up with the origin of the problem only superficial regulatory ambitions that will surely fall short of expectations.  A clear example that our hearts are not focused on the vine and where the origins of these issues stem from.

For the last few articles, we have been given a picture of how things were before sin entered into our lives.  The Garden of Eden and the continued presence of God is a wonderful picture to think about and to dream about but we also know that the presence of that scene is gone and our lives are governed by another force that is not so caring.  But in hope, faith, and trust we know that God has provided another way for us to have redemption and restoration and more importantly He has not left us for one moment.  God wants us to remember the origins of our lives because without this knowledge we could not understand where or what our beginnings were meant to be.  Yes, the Garden of Eden existed and the perfect settings that Adam and Eve lived within were real.  Also, God was our Creator and He is still perfect and holy in every way which means that our origins are still intact and can be reborn in the eyes and heart of the only One that matters.  Peace and tranquility were the holy foundations of our existence in the beginning and the light that we have inside our lives is living proof of this truth.  We were not meant to be subject to sadness and tragic events and God wants to make it clear that He is our origin and that everything that we know to be real come from Him and Him alone.

I can just imagine Adam and Eve lounging around in the Garden of Eden when Satan comes along and begins to have relations with them.  I can also imagine how many questions Satan planted into Eve’s mind and heart over the period of time they had together, not to mention the ones he had with Adam as well.  But through these question and answer sessions, he had to have planted his divisive ways and thoughts into their lives because as we all know Satan’s main goal is to destroy God’s perfect prize, them and now us.  I can just hear Satan justifying his presence with a twisted monologue of how he has things better and how he did not have to live according to such rules and that his interpretation of what God commanded proved to be a better report, for he was still around and was not dead.  All of this to woo two people from the perfect inhabitation that they had only known and when eaten tragedy is brought into their lives as they had never known before.  See, God did not provide any tragedy in Adam and Eve’s lives, they believed the lie that was told to them and they allowed the consequences of sin (disobedience) to this rule.

When Eve answered Satan concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he must have laughed within himself because he understood that all of his work was paying off and that it was ripe for executing.  How many times have you fumbled an answer when called upon, exaggerated it a bit, changed the story to embellish or flaunt a result?  We all have done such a thing but when it comes to our origins we cannot afford to mix up or to get wrong for if we do then our entire existence becomes in question itself which defies our origins itself.  Where are our origins and where does it come from?  We have many examples in God’s Word that explain it to us but for this topic, we are going to be in John 15:4-5.  “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” 

Here we have a wonderful and reassuring passage of how we are supposed to view ourselves and while some of us do live in these ways many of us do not believe in such truth.  It brings back the laughing and snickering of those who we tell that we are believers, for in their eyes and minds our stock is placed in a fake entity that has no meaning or contact of any kind.  It is this belief of those who believe in the world alone that stand alone with their origins being served through the branches alone.  Look at all of the responses that we have offered up to the shootings at schools and now the graduation to bombings in this nation, not to mention all of the other tense situations that are present.  They are response issues that serve only the superficial and do not even admit to any root cause or issue which means they do not understand where their origins are thus doomed to not serve a purposeful and true solution.  God’s Word says, right here in these two verses, that nothing will live when belief comes from this branch-like belief.  I ask you, how many of the answers that we are seeking from such problems today are we asking God to provide?  NONE OF THEM!!!  Making new worldly laws will only result in one answer, laughter from the ruler of this world and tears from the Creator of our origins.

These verses are meant to bring fruit to our lives so that we may understand what truth is, for life is truth and holiness is truth.  The answers for which we desperately seek each day serves as the fruit in these verses.  We must take to heart and in truth about what God says here when His Son claims to be the vine and says that we are the branches, this is true statement for it is the vine that the branches receive the necessary nutrients that are needed in order for the branches to produce its life.  A branch alone cannot produce one single item, in fact, when the branch tries to thrive it can only die barren and useless.  It is impossible to achieve any life-giving results to others or to ourselves for that matter if we do not use the source from the vine.  It is the vine that goes into the ground to receive and then provide the nutrients to the branches but if the branches revolt against the vine, rejection can only result.  Remember, God was the one who created the ground in the beginning and it is His Son who says He is the vine which goes right into the ground thus providing the true answers for our productivity, answers, and ultimately fruit.

Yes, this is a kingdom passage for it foretells the results of what will occur when one or the other kingdom is chosen.  Satan cannot produce any life whatsoever for he is a defeated ruler and is on a spiritual legal chain and can only do what God says is permissible.  Why live, supply, take advice from, and cheer on a loser and defeated ruler?  John 15:5 clearly states that the only way a person who can bear fruit has to be living within the vine and receiving the proper life-giving nutrients in order to bear such answers.  God wants people to know the truth but the truth shall not come to our nation or into our lives until we return back to His Ways and turn our hearts back over to Him.  There is a great deal of activity when the branches are pruned and there is a reason why only the branches are pruned as well, a subject to explain at a later date, for the vine itself does not get pulled unless it is completely dead and in this case the vine is eternal and the branches the one that does not produce.

Church, we cannot afford to remain silent while our nation sinks further and further down the eternal drain.  We must get our hearts out from the sand and take a stand for God.  How?  By spreading the news that God is the only answer to our problems and if we return to His Ways He has promised to heal our lands which means not only our physical land will be healed but our spiritual land as well.  As of this moment, it is obvious that this nation has no intentions of returning to God much less asking for His advice in our current issues and to be honest, it looks like we (the Church) have no interest in doing such steps either.  How can we even step foot out into the world and cry salvation when we do not live in Covenant in the first place? 

Our nation and many people are begging to find answers to these issues that all of us face, but we are ignoring the vine that has the answers for us to bear good fruit again.  There shall be no peace and no permanent answers to these problems and to the problems that we will soon face unless we turn back to God and seek His face for our lives.  If we choose not to return to God be prepared for our branches to really stink up the place for the life-giving nutrients from the vine shall not flow because we have voluntarily cut that source off.  Jesus is the only way and the only answer to the issues that we face on every level, God is pleading with us to return to Him and I hope that we shall adhere to this beckoning before it is too late and our branches die.  Jesus clearly states that if we are not in Him then we shall bear no fruit and we all know what Jesus did to the fig tree when He saw that it was not doing its job properly.  God is our origin and only He can provide the correct answers to our healing and eternal life.

DLB