EM/Youth

Ending and Beginning

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작성자 카마리오한인연합감리교회 작성일19-12-31 12:01 조회1,211회 댓글0건

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20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

 

Time is continuous. Divisions within time, such as year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, are human inventions. However, because of those divisions and terms, we can imbue meanings to moments of our lives. We imbue meanings to our lives’ moments because we cherish our lives. And we cherish our lives because we know our time is limited on earth.

Today we read from Genesis 8:20-22, in which Noah sacrifices to the LORD after the flood. Noah saw the utter destruction that the flood brought to earth. There seems to be no hope. However, Noah did not complain to God. Noah believed in God, His good intentions, his good character. Noah believed that God is good, all the time. Noah knew that God did what He did to save the good seed for the future of humanity, for the future of the relationship between God and humanity. And Noah showed forth that good seed of FAITH by building an altar to the LORD.

And the LORD was pleased with Noah’s sacrifice and determined in His heart that He would never destroy the earth even though people are going to be bad. Instead constant cycle of life will continue. As the LORD says, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” What is the purpose of such cycles? Before the flood, there was no cycle, but a continuous line. Therefore, when people sin, there was nothing that could prevent sinning from accelerating. God established cycles in human lives that humans would have the season of winter and the time of night, that they can become humble and think about God while they might sin along the way.

As the cycles continue, God’s love on us continues. As the cycles continue, our outer person withers while the inner person grows stronger. That is the meaning and the purpose of the cycles.

We are ending the year 2019. What we need to do is to repent. What are welcoming the year 2020. What we need to do is to give thanks to God and to draw near to God. Because while time contines repeating itselt, God’s love will continue to be poured upon our hearts.


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