Genesis 3:14-19 • We All Fall Down

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

Pastor Carey has prayed for our sermon and passage, so I'll ask that you turn there now to Genesis chapter 3, as we'll consider verses 14 through 19.



 Remember that at the end of chapter 1, God looks at His creation and His creatures, and He declares all good.



 But things do not stay that way.



 And in Genesis 3.14, God actually addresses the tempter to explain the consequences of what has happened. I'll ask that you look there, Genesis 3 and verse 14. "The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and thus you shall eat all the days of your life.



 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.



 He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.



 To the woman, He said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children.



 Your desire shall be for your husband, but He shall rule over you. And to Adam, He said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.



 Cursed is the ground because of you.



 In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.



 As it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field, by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.



 Till you return to the ground.



 For out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."



 And the polar vortex brought extreme temperatures across the Midwest recently.



 The police department of Noblesville, Indiana, issued a decree in response.



 This all crime and illegal activities in Noblesville and the surrounding areas will be prohibited until further notice.



 Now it was said tongue in cheek, and we know that because we do not expect any declaration to end all crime and tragedy. If that were possible, such a declaration would have been issued long ago.



 But the consequences of such a declaration being futile are not funny at all, as the twenty-one deaths due to the polar vortex indicate.



 Or the twenty-three last week due to tornadoes in the southeast. Or the six hundred thousand deaths so far because of the Syrian Civil War, which is only one of forty active conflicts in the world today.



 Our problem when we see crisis and tragedy as believers is not to have a biblical explanation.



 The greater problem is how to respond.



 I think of the words of Christian writer, blogger, and mom, Anne Voskamp.



 How do you rejoice in a world where babies die and diagnoses startle and your life can be upended in a moment?



 Where in the world, in all this world, do we find joy?



 When you know you are so broken and everything else, it lays you right low.



 How do we rejoice in a fallen world?



 When everything, not just us, but everything around us is fallen, broken.



 We recognize that the Bible is seeking to answer that by dealing with the reality of the broken world by saying it's not the end of the story. It's not the final chapter. We're being told of things broken right here at the beginning. There's a whole Bible to follow.



 And it's understanding that structure that is helping us understand our situation and God's hope that is the response. Our situation, God is pretty real about.



 At the end of chapter 1, God looks at His creation and His creatures and declares all good. Verse 31 of chapter 1, "God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was good.



 Cars and starfish, Grand Canyon and groundhogs, all good."



 And then it all goes bad.



 He's pretty straight about that as well. Verse 13 of chapter 3, as God is addressing Adam the sinner, He says, "You ate of what I said to you, you shall not eat of it." So cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field, not the garden anymore, where food was provided for you." You have to break the ground that itself is going to break you.



 As creation and creature are now both fallen and experiencing the consequences, there are physical consequences. Food is by pain, explicitly said in verse 17. And we get into the world, not just sustenance by pain, but birth itself by pain.



 After all, verse 16, God says to the woman, "I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing in pain you shall bring forth. Children the commentators will debate." So was there pain in childbirth prior to the fall?



 There's no debate, there's pain now.



 But it says your pain will be multiplied and pain your children go into the world. And what we're understanding in that multiplying of the pain is that every mom now, even in the joy of the birth of a child, says, "This is a child that will now go into a world that's broken and as much as I might desire to protect my child from all pain, there is inevitable pain ahead."



 And so moms give birth not just in physical pain, but to the pain of one's heart aching



 for what you know your child will surely face. Creation and creature fallen in every dimension. Our faith forefathers looked at all of this from a scriptural perspective and said what this is actually reminding us is that our whole nature is fallen, not just nature, our nature is fallen in every dimension, physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, everything broken.



 And as easy as it is to say, Bible-believing people, the best of them can forget, particularly in moments of crisis or hurt. Think of Jesus' own disciples in John chapter 9.



 As a man born blind comes before Jesus and the disciples say to Jesus, "Lord, who sinned?



 This man or his parents?" What's the assumption?



 If something's wrong, if something's broken, somebody's sin personally is responsible. Who sinned? Who caused this?



 It's not a new question.



 It's not the last time it's asked.



 If our children are suffering or special needs in their birth or struggling with sexual identity in their teens, the question not just of the world, not just of people in the church, but of our own hearts is, "Who sinned?



 Did I do this?



 Did my child do something that deserves this?" What was Jesus' response to His own disciples? Who sinned? This man or his parents? His response was, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned." This was so that the glory of God might be revealed in him, God breaking into a broken and fallen world, giving hope where there is not hope. It's the message of redemption that's still coming. Yes, this is the reality, broken, fallen, corrupted in every dimension. But we do nobody any good if we don't recognize that we don't just go into auto-blame when we see trial or disaster or hurt because God Himself is explaining to us the result of this fallen world. So that when we see people suffering and dealing with difficulty and struggling with sin in every dimension and disability in every dimension and questions in every dimension, we offer love and sympathy and understanding.



 If it's sin, then we turn toward repentance. If it's disease, we offer medication now or hope in the life to come when all this is set right.



 Our goal is to say to people with honesty, "Our whole nature is undone." Like a pole on a wool sweater unraveling everything. So this has happened and it's not just Bible stories, it's our bodies have been affected. Our minds have been affected. Our wiring, our personalities, our inclinations, everything has been affected, all of us in different ways.



 But the Bible is clear that all of us are now fallen creatures in a fallen world.



 And for that reason, we will face difficulty and harm that requires us to turn toward a Savior.



 And it's not just our physical aspects that are teaching us, but our relational aspects as well. The unraveling immediately goes into relationships. You know the story. As God comes into the garden after Adam and Eve have, you know, not just eaten the apple, that's not really the point, as their ambition to be like God has resulted in rebellion and betrayal against the very God has provided life and creation to them.



 And God understands as a result of what they are doing hiding from Him that something is wrong. He asks Adam, "What did you do?"



 And Adam's immediate response is to throw Eve under the bus.



 "Well, the woman that you gave me, she gave me to eat of what you said we should not eat." And we can kind of laugh and chuckle and not recognize they are the words that are echoed in the explanation and the excuse of every abusive or adulterous or neglectful spouse.



 If she were not so cold, if she were not so complaining, if she were not so critical, then I would not have done this. It's her.



 God is saying, "You did this.



 You retain responsibility for your own sin, but this corruption that so tempts you is part of what it means to be human now. And as much as Adam throws Eve under the bus, she wants to drive the bus.



 After all, you may remember verse 16.



 After the words about pain and childbearing, God says, "Your desire shall be for," some of your Bibles are actually translating, "Your desire shall be contrary to your husband." The Hebrew language is, "Your desire shall be for your husband." But the word "desire" has sexual connotations in our culture, and so the translators are trying to help us. This is not talking about sexual desire. This is talking about lordship lust.



 Remember from the beginning, the sin was they desired to be like God.



 And we go only one more chapter over, and we will find out that the same word is used to describe Satan desiring to take dominion over humanity.



 But a wife's lordship lust would say, "I want to control the situation.



 I want to take control." And how that expresses itself in a culture where women are not typically stronger than their spouses is we take control by complaint or shame or ridicule or criticism or emotional sexual distance.



 "You get me when I get what I want."



 And the Bible is just being so honest about here. Here's just a little bit ago a husband who would look at this beautiful spouse that God has provided for him and in rejoicing would say, "Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, look at her!



 Made for me, we're made for each other."



 And so quickly they begin to look at each other as their competitor.



 Who can I dominate? Who can I take control of? How can I get my way in this relationship? And it just keeps unraveling as those who deal with the marriages that we all struggle with, with the issues we all struggle to say just what happens? We argue about money, number one issue.



 We argue about sex, number two issue.



 We argue about in-laws, particularly in a community where you have multiple generations of family in the same place. What does it mean that a man would leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they would become one flesh? And how we struggle to actually start new family and not have the other family holding on beyond what's right? And how we argue and stress and push each other about it. And how do we deal with our children? How many? How do we discipline? Where do they go to school? And we wrestle and we fight and we wrestle about these things, but they all come back to do you support me? Do I support you? Are we for each other in this relationship as we work through the hard things of a fallen world?



 And as we do those things, we recognize God is just saying, "This is the world we're in. We struggle in all these dimensions."



 And you think, "Well, isn't this good news? I mean, isn't this kind of like, you know, Laurel and Harley? Well, this is another fine mess that you..."



 But right in the middle of the mess, God begins to unfold His plan because the problems are not just physical and they are not just relational, but ultimately spiritual.



 We read the verse about, you know, God coming to talk to Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening in that garden experience. And here's this amazing message, the God who made the heavens and the earth delights to be with those people. Here comes His presence.



 And what they do is they actually hide from Him. Their sin makes them actually try to get behind His provision. They go into the weeds or behind the trees. And the very things that have been provided for them are now the means that they are using to hide themselves from God, like God providing for us talents and homes and families. And as long as we are doing fine, we can kind of hide behind, "I don't need you, God. I can hide behind Your provision for my control."



 And what we think is so old is not so old at all. And yet God right in the midst of it says this amazing thing, verse 15.



 He's addressing Satan here and He says, "I'm going to put enmity," that is antagonism or warfare, "between you, Satan, and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel."



 Here's the mess. Fallen creation, fallen creatures, and out of the mess comes the first promise of the Messiah. Do you recognize that? Those who study the Scriptures say this is the first gospel, the first message of God saying, "I will provide the solution because you're not the solution. You are not your own redeemer. So I'm going to provide someone." What's going to happen? There is first this amazing promise.



 There will be victorious grace. Adam, from your offspring, which is a plural concept, a collective, from your progeny, from your descendants, will come one and He, now we've suddenly narrowed to one.



 He, this one, shall bruise your head. Some of your translations say He will crush your head because this attack against Satan is against the most vulnerable and overwhelming aspect of defeating Him. Your head is going to be crushed.



 That's the promise. This fall is not the final chapter. That's not the end of it. Satan's influence is going to be crushed.



 But with the promise there's a prophecy.



 Did you catch it?



 Yeah, one's going to come from Eve and he's going to crush you, but you're going to strike his heel, bruise his heel. You're going to wound.



 There's going to be a suffering that comes even upon the one who is sent to redeem.



 He's going to crush Satan's influence, but Satan is not going to sit still for that. He will try to stop it. He will wound in response. And it is this verse, this Genesis 3.15 that's giving us understanding of really the rest of the Bible as it unfolds. I have a brother who is career military.



 And as a result of that, he one time was stationed at NATO headquarters in Belgium. And despite the fact that he'd been in air combat and trained to lead in air combat, he would say that was the most stressful job in the military he ever had, being at NATO headquarters because his job was to determine how much U.S. technology we let our allies have.



 Always pressure, pressure, pressure, more, more, more. And it was his job to say how much and how little. And when I visited him just to get out from under the stress, he took me to the battlefield of Waterloo that is near NATO headquarters in Belgium. Remember where Napoleon met his Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated. And if you go to the battlefield of Waterloo, there's this huge earthen mound that has an observation deck on the top of the mound where you can stand and observe the battlefield. And here is my brother, career military, explaining it to me. He's saying on this vast plain is where the vast armies of Europe met to defeat Napoleon. And this flat land is just perfect for spilling blood.



 Here's where the infantries of the great armies of Europe met. And the hills, the cavalry, waded behind the hills until the right moment, the artillery on the hills.



 Supply trains back in the woods, spies going back. And as he's explaining every piece of the battle, he is relating it to the whole. Every piece is related to the battle. And as we study the Scriptures, we begin to understand Genesis 3.15 is our observation deck. We stand over the rest of Scripture and understand what's going on there.



 God's unfolding plan of his redemption. You know enough now to understand the big account of what's happening. After all, if you take just the biblical timeline and you say, "How did things begin?" There was a creation in which God made everything good.



 Did it stay that way?



 Following the creation, a fall in which everything went bad.



 But you know that's not the end of the story. You recognize even from the beginning, from Genesis 3.15, there has been a promise and a prophecy. There is a promise that one will come and he will, by his death and resurrection, the wounding, the suffering that nonetheless would allow him to crush the head of Satan.



 So that ultimately you recognize as God fulfills his purpose, there is a great consummation. New heavens, new earth, restored. God ultimately will make everything perfect, which by the way is even better than good.



 What happens in the meantime?



 Between everything going bad and everything being made perfect, what happens in the meantime?



 There is God's message of redemption unfolding. God is unfolding a plan showing us his grace that is greater than sin, that is unfolding first for people who don't understand much, so it's a little message. And it gets larger and larger and larger until it results in the great plan of God reaching its fulfillment. Now why do we do that? Why do we talk about this unfolding grace so often in this church? Because we know if you don't get the big story, you'll misunderstand the pieces.



 These are not random moral tales. These are not arbitrary commands that just kind of fall out of heaven. God is saying, "I am pursuing my plan more than that. I am pursuing my people so that they will ultimately understand my grace toward them which they have not gotten from the very beginning." What difference does it make? We look at a time like the period of the judges and we look at Samson who was one of the judges and we say, "Now how do I interpret the message of Samson?" You know like when he had long hair, you know, he was really strong.



 And when he had short hair, he was weak.



 Therefore you should have.



 Now you know that's not right.



 What is right?



 In the time of the judges, what did everyone do? They did what was right in their own eyes. How'd that work out for them? That doesn't work. You do what's right in your own eyes and that doesn't work. And it does not matter how strong you are. And it does not matter how clever you are. You are not your own redeemer. There has to be another one who's being provided. God must provide another way. And God spends from the time of the Exodus 1,500 years saying to a people who have been released from slavery, "I must provide the way out, just as I provided a way out of your slavery, I must provide the way out of your sin in this corrupted, broken world." And he does it in ways that are unfolding the message of his grace by saying any other solution does not work.



 After all, what happens after the period of the judges in which everyone does what's right in their own eyes? God says, "All right, let them pick their own king. They won't follow my ways. You let them pick their king. Pick their tallest, strongest, handsomest best guy."



 Does that fix the problem?



 No. No.



 We're going to need another king, a better king. Well because the kings are so messed up, God says, "I'll send prophets and the prophets will instruct the kings and the kings will rule in justice." What's the little problem here? The little problem with the prophets is, what do the people do to the prophets?



 They kill the prophets.



 All along the way we have been learning, well, what if we have sacrifices?



 The priests steal the sacrifices. What if we have a law? The people don't obey the law.



 For 1,500 years God is saying to His people, "We're going to need a better law keeper.



 We're going to need a better sacrifice, better priest, better prophet, better king.



 Not this, not this, not this, not this, but this so that when He comes we know who He is and what He must do." God has been signaling all along, not just a fallen world, but a redeemer who would come. And from the very beginning He has been telling us what He must do in our behalf so that we would understand how resolute, how unrelenting, how persevering was His love. Yes, He came to the garden, but that was not the last time He came and it won't be the last time He comes.



 God is saying, "I will make a way out." And what we try to do in this church week after week is we put on our gospel glasses.



 And we're saying to one another, "How is God revealing His gracious nature?"



 He is revealing something in every passage of Scripture about Himself.



 And by the way, He's also revealing something about a fallen creature.



 He's revealing something about me.



 And what He's telling me over and over again is, "You are not your own redeemer. You can't make a way out of this. God has to provide His grace for you." And if we will put on our gospel glasses, we'll begin to see everywhere how God is unfolding His message of redemption that He's not just, "You be a better person and God will love you for that." That is not the message. The message is, "You could not make the way out and God did not give up on you." Instead, He was providing a redeemer who would provide the way out as you trust in Him, as you turn to Him. After all, what are we supposed to be when we put on our gospel glasses? What are we supposed to be getting out of these Scriptures that we study? There are things for us to learn, surely.



 We learn who God is, right?



 We're learning that as we study the Scriptures.



 What's He like? What is this God who gave commands but would not let up on people who broke them? What about God who gave pardon and forgiveness and a Savior to rebels? What are we learning about God's gracious nature?



 We're also learning what to do, of course. If I love Him, if I want to follow in His safe path, what do I do?



 God is telling us, not just with arbitrary commands, though a mean guy who's trying to make party life hard for you, who's actually saying, "If I love you, I will give you a good and safe path." And so He lays it out. What is He calling us to do?



 But ultimately, in the midst of all that, He's telling us who you are. I like it. Who God, what do, who you?



 Who are you?



 Well, I understand among other things, I am a fallen creature in a fallen world.



 How do I know that?



 Because the Bible clearly tells me my consistent nature. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Not just some, not just here and there, all of us. And so I understand about who I am. I'm a fallen creature in a fallen world, but that is not the end of the story.



 God sent His Son for fallen creatures. And those who claim Him in faith, He says, "You are loved by the Father, and you are united to Christ, and you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so that you are redeemed now, held by the God who could turn His back, who could walk away, but refused to do so." So I learned not only that I am fallen, I learned that I am redeemed, loved by the Father,



 united to Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit when the Apostle Paul captures it all together, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, he says, "Therefore in Christ, united to Christ, you are a new creature in." Wait, I was a fallen creature. Yes, true. But that's not your full identity. In Christ, united Him, you are a new creature.



 Now I must tell you, even in the church, when the preacher says, "You are a new creature in Christ Jesus," people go, "Great!



 Still looks like me.



 Still sounds like me. Still weighs about the same. How am I a new creature in Christ Jesus?"



 We have to understand. The Bible reminds us that before the Spirit entered us, we were fallen without a hope. But that's not who you are anymore. If Christ has claimed you, if you have been robed in the righteousness of your Redeemer, if you are in Him and He in you, what does that mean? Ultimately, what it means is greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. The apostles looking all the way back at the creation fall, and He's saying, "Satan had influence, but He has been crushed at the cross of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of your Savior, and that same Savior by His Spirit now indwells you. And greater is He that's in you than He that is in the world. There's no temptation taken you but such as is common, but God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also provide a way of escape. He's doing something in you and He's doing something for you. Why? Because He's your Redeemer, because He's made you capable, because He's made you able. And when the Apostle Paul summarizes all of that, Romans 6, verse 6 and 14, he says what that ultimately means, we sing it here regularly, "You are no longer a slave."



 Just like the children of Israel released from slavery, "You are no longer a slave. Sin shall no longer have," here comes the word again, "dominion over you." The very thing that Satan wanted, desired was to have dominion over us. He says, "No, sin shall no longer have dominion over you." Why? Because greater is He that's in you than He that's in the world. You have ability like you never had before, because you're not just fallen, you are redeemed. Now Satan will sit right there on your shoulder and he will say, "That's not true.



 You're a mess and you can't be fixed. This is part of your genetics. This is part of your family background. This is your habit for decades. You can't change."



 And we have to say, "That is a lie.



 Greater is He that's in me than He that's in the world. I must claim the truth of the gospel. I'm no longer a slave to Satan. I have been made new. I'm a new creature." And we respond that way because if you don't believe you can have victory, you've already lost the battle.



 If you believe that God is saying to you, "Listen, I'm provided by my people, by my word, by my spirit, resources you need to have victory," then you begin to believe,



 "There's some hope for me," which is precisely what the Bible wants you to believe. The Apostle Paul, when he's on this side of the cross looking back, Romans 15.4 says this, "Everything that was written in the past," now that's a pretty expansive statement,



 "Everything that was written in the past was written for us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.



 I'm not just a fallen creature in a fallen world. I have hope and a redeemer who's working in my heart and life now and is providing a perfect eternal future for me. And because I have hope, I have joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength."



 What I'm ultimately learning is I'm not a slave. And the reason that I am supposed to know that is it does something in my heart. I begin to act upon the power that I have.



 I'm not a slave.



 So why do I still sin?



 Because I love the sin.



 Just think about it. If the sin did not attract you, it would have no power in your life.



 The reason sin has power is we love the lust, the ambition, the position, the control, the reputation. We love it.



 And so we give sin power it does not have. It would have no power if we did not love it. James 1.13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, he is tempted of God." God cannot tempt and he tempts no man. But we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own lust and desires.



 We give it power because we want what it pretends will be satisfying. And God is saying to us, "I'm giving you another hope. I am saying I will provide a way out. I will provide you strength. I give it to you. But you must respond." And the way that we respond by displacing love for sin is with a greater love.



 Where does such love come from that will displace love for sin? Bible tells us, 1 John 4.4, "We love because he first loved us." Why in this church do we spend so much time talking about the consistency of the grace message so people will feel no obligation?



 No, because we know the result. We know when hearts are filled up with love for Christ, they will not only have love, they will begin to experience the effect of that love. Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commands."



 That holiness is the response of a heart that is perceived. How great is God's love for us. When I begin to say, "Look how resolute, look how persevering, look how God loved me when I was His enemy."



 How that love begins to change us, work its way into our hearts, into our affections so that we want to walk with Him as He has described.



 I've said to before when I began preaching, I was still in Bible school and driving to a little church in southern Illinois as a single pastor, and I'm so sorry, learning to preach. I think of those people and I think, "I'm so sorry."



 But you know, one Sunday after a sermon, one of my elders said to me, "Would you like to go on a picnic with our family?" Now I'm single and food is being offered. What did I say? I said, "You bet."



 And we drove up the Great River Road to a restored Victorian village in southern Illinois and had the picnic. I mean, it was just a beautiful fall day. Sky blue, sun shining, red, scarlet leaves, golden turned leaves. I mean, it's just beautiful. And at the end of the picnic, the 20-something year old daughter of the elder said to me, "Would you like to take a walk with me?"



 The sky is blue, the sun is shining.



 She's got blonde hair, green eyes, red sweater, and she says, "Would you like to take a walk with me?" And I say, "You bet."



 And I've been walking with her for over 40 years now.



 Why not?



 She's beautiful.



 Why wouldn't I want to walk with her?



 Why do we unfold the beauty of the grace of God week after week after week so that when God is saying to you, "Here's what you need to do to know the beauty and the wonder of my good and safe path. Will you walk with me if we have seen the beauty of His grace? How should our hearts respond but you bet?" Maybe you shouldn't say you bet to God, but whatever is the equivalent.



 I want to walk with you because I've seen how beautiful and good you are. If we say that's the source is God's love for us and the effect is our showing love to Him, we have to ultimately say, "What is the fuel that will keep that love stoked in our hearts?" And the reality is it is the very message that we have been talking about. When I look at the Scriptures, not just as brownie points to get with God, "Okay, I'll read another chapter so he'll be nice to me," I'll open the email to today's devotion so that I get that checked off so that the ogre in the sky won't hurt me, forget it. You're not going to bribe God with your good behavior? All you got is filthy rags.



 All the prayer and the reading of God's Word and the communion of the saints is the fuel of the gospel coming into heart and mind. It's not a bribe to God. It's bread to our hearts as God is saying to us over and over again, "Look how great is my love for you. Look how unrelenting is my pardon. Look how I am providing for people who can't provide for themselves." And as a consequence, we love the one who loved us first and want to walk with him.



 And that was the goal all along as God is perfecting His plan in us.



 I've said to you I have two stages of children, our big kids and our last, which was kind of a caboose, our Mac baby. You know what a Mac baby is?



 Middle-aged crazy.



 And as that last child was getting in her high school years, I would say to Kathy, "You know, she's just so busy. I can't keep up with her. I'm just getting old and tired. I can't keep up with this kid." And Kathy would say, "We have to keep pouring into this child the way we did the others."



 And because I've always traveled a lot, what I would do for our Katie is, regardless of how much I traveled, if I was home when she was getting up early in the morning for high school activities, I would get up and I would fix her breakfast.



 Just cereal, but I called it breakfast.



 And even as I'm filling up her cereal bowl with milk, I'm thinking, "What's my job as the Christian parent of this young woman?" And I think just as I'm filling up that bowl with milk, my goal is to fill up her heart with love for Christ.



 Because if her heart is full of love for her Savior, she cannot be more safe or more strong. And that's not just true of my child. That is true of every child of God. If their hearts are full of love for Jesus, they cannot be more safe or more strong. So folks, parent, preacher, teacher, counselor, fellow servant in the business world, one who's simply taking care of kids while you're babysitting, fill them up with love for the Savior. They cannot be more safe or more strong. What a beautiful calling. God calls us to pour Christ's love in the hearts of others. For then what will happen?



 They can't be more safe or more strong than when they love because He first loved them.



 Father, so work Your grace into our hearts again that we responsible, not just to say it, but to experience it for the strength of our souls might know the joy that is our strength. So bring the joy by showing us the grace, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.