Untitled Sermon (9)

“The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ” -Genesis 3:6

If I was given a choice to have anything in the world, I, by nature, would choose the thing that is most harmful and least meaningful for myself. Therefore, belief in God requires my joyful acceptance of the path God has ordained for my life—believing His path is the best path. I have given myself far too much credit—thinking I, with enough discipline, could make the right choices for life. Soon, I discovered I could not even make the right decisions for the minute, much less my entire life. From where do we get the assumption that we are wise enough to think through the most difficult and complex ordeals in life? From where did we get such wisdom? Do we think so much of ourselves that we have become fools? I think, at the very least, we have become fools and now, even more than fools. We have become quite delirious.

And even so, I have been subtly tricked by my own delight and pleasure. Yet, I shall not petition to have delight and pleasure taken away. For, if I were to have no pleasure or delight at all, how might I take pleasure in the things of God? Surely, it was for the very purpose of both God and man’s pleasure were all things created. So then, the problem is not simply the craving for pleasure and delight. Rather, it is the craving for pleasure and delight by means of things that are pleasing and delightful to the One who bring true pleasure and delight to all men. Therefore, I have assumed the role of the One who holds the keys to true pleasure and delight and I have unlocked every door except the one that can be unlocked by God Himself.

And what laid behind these doors? Every terrible and imperfect thing imaginable. Every disgusting and miserable experience imaginable awaited me. Oh the misery that has come from such a will to open doors, which should never be opened to any man! Father, please rescue me! I repent of presumptuous sins! How arrogant must I be to snatch those keys your hands? And how meek are you to allow me? Yet, in your meekness lies your wrath. For, you know the end of days and you knew that such expressions of overconfidence would bring the full measure of your anger upon me.

Gracious Father! Rescue me! I repent! For, my misery is the just consequences of my own decisions. For, I thought I could demand my own happiness. I thought I could force my own goodness. Now, I know every choice made without you in the center of it is simply another step towards the painful room of misery. With those keys in my hand, I by nature, choose that which is most harmful for me, even while wanting what’s best. Save me, oh righteous God!