JIMMETS - REPETITION - LOOKING AHEAD

Time with Jesus - 08 July 2013

Hi all,
Since the flood, the lifespan of men and women has been in the order of 70 to 80 years. For some it, has been considerably less. There was a time in history when life was hard and it was a great struggle to survive. Those who lived to 45 had done well. Even so, we tend to look at the past through rose-tinted spectacles. The older we get, the easier it is for us to get all sentimental and look back at our past and think of the “good old days”.

Two things were different after the flood which may have contributed significantly to the reduction in longevity. One was the inclusion of meat in our diet. 

Meat in our Diet

This is recorded for us in Genesis: ³ "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. I have already given you the green plants for food. Now I am giving you everything. Gen 9:3 NIrV Here, God gave mankind permission for us to eat meat. If people had been doing this earlier is not clear. 

Adam's Diet
Nuts, seeds and fruit

We are told: ⁴ But Abel brought the fattest parts of some of the lambs from his flock. They were the male animals that were born first to their mothers. The LORD was pleased with Abel and his offering. Gen 4:4 NIrV. Why Abel kept flocks is not stated. Perhaps it was purely for sacrificial purposes, although this seems unlikely?

The second was that the “canopy” over the earth was removed. This “canopy” is thought to have been mainly water. Perhaps some form of cloud which may have protected mankind from the damaging rays of the sun.

The Canopy
Explained

Associated with these two “happenings”, we know God decided: ³ Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not struggle with man forever. He will die. He will have only 120 years to live until I judge him." Gen 6:3 NIrV. Of course, God is not obliged to tell us how He made the changes in mankind’s lifespan. But since He usually uses local and visible “factors” to bring about change, it’s possible that He used these two together to carry out His intention.

Looking at Life
Differently

Our ±120 year lifespan means, there is seldom more than three or four generations in a family alive at any one time. My children were born after the death of my grandparents. However, my parents were alive for a short time after the birth of my grandchildren. Thus, this trend of having only 3 or 4 generations alive at any one time appears to be consistently true. In a way, it’s a repetition of the life allotment from God to all of us. Inevitably, this means that we have forgotten the events that occurred more than 70 or 80 years ago. It also means that we repeat the mistakes of the past.

JUDGEMENT

History has a habit of repeating itself. What has been done will be done again. One of the few things we have learned from history is that we don’t learn from history! This is confirmed by the author of Ecclesiastes; ⁹ History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Ecclesiastes 1:9 NLT

Of course, we cannot live in the past. For us, while we are alive, the “time” is always “now”. We live in time, but for us it is always “now”. We can look back at what has been and, hopefully, learn from it. Alternatively, we can look forward to the future. But that future only happens when we are in the “now”. We can look back or forward. We can’t change the past. Even the Lord can’t change the past. If He did, it would no longer be our past! He can change the future. He does this in response to our prayer.

Separating the
Sheep from the Goats

For a change, herewith two “Jimmets”. These are “Sonnet” type poetry. The difference is I’ve stuck to Shakespeare’s style of rhyming. This is 14 lines of Iambic pentameter. The rhyme is 1^st and 3^rd line along with 2^nd and 4^th line. Twelve lines are written this way. The final two lines rhyme at their respective ends.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – 08 July 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	JIMMETS - REPETITION - LOOKING AHEAD
Most of us love to go to the Fair Ground. While I was a school-boy in the 1950’s, the fair came to Port Elizabeth every year during the Christmas School Holidays. What fun! Remember the Big Dipper, the Wall of Death, the Ghost Train, the Octopus, the Dodgem Cars and the Hall of Mirrors? I so enjoyed the Hall of Mirrors. The mirrors distorted your appearance so that you didn’t see yourself as you were. Even back in those days I was a bit overweight so I could go and see a thinner me! It was an optical illusion but did no harm to anyone. At the same time the “bioscope” shows, gave an overall impression of prosperity after WW2. War movies, escape stories, spies, heroes and heroines. All these were deliberately designed to raise the spirits of those who had been through one of the worst periods of history. In a way, the children of the 1930’s 40’s and 50’s were compelled to go through a time of unreality. None of us were really sure what was genuine and what was not. What we could all see was that the people of Germany had become the psychological victims of one of the world’s greatest mass murderers. Hitler had blossomed and bloomed in the period immediately after WW1. The war had ended with an armistice. Even so, Germany was held responsible for the war and had to pay massive reparations. On top of this, the depression hammered the German people. This caused the rise of Hitler and the Nazi’s. In many respects, WW2 commenced where WW1 had ended less than 20 years previously. Hitler was catapulted into power. He promised prosperity to the Germanic people and the beginning of a glorious1000 year Reich. The people welcomed him. At first he did some good things. The German autobahn’s were conceived and built. The “Volkswagen” car was designed and manufactured. What people didn’t know was that the prosperity of the people and the cost of these projects were more than the treasury could fund. His way of obtaining money was to march into a country and confiscate their financial resources. The Jews in particular were targeted because the wealth of Europe was more or less in their hands. In his rise to power he would truck no opposition. Those who regarded him and his political aspirations as wrong were quickly and quietly dealt with. In this way this diabolical monster was able to crush most of Continental Europe beneath his jackboot. Edmund Burke is regarded as stating in 1770, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing." He may have phrased it differently but it is still true. The greatest victim of this is Jesus Christ. He was crucified and the good men of His day did nothing to stop it. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			20 Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side--leaders whose decrees permit injustice? Psalms 94:20 NLT	Repetition They thought he was a person they could trust, Until the day they found that they were wrong, Investigations showed that he was just, As bad as all the crooks who came along. Why is it he took them for a ride? Why is it they missed his crooked style? Character like his is hard to hide. They were wrong; they missed it by a mile. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson well, And it’s something they will not repeat. Now he’s locked up in a prison cell, He was just a liar and a cheat! Why is it we go through all this pain? Lord we do this time and time again! -oOo- Jim Strickland – 8th July 2012 Looking Ahead Friends we are now children of the Lord. Even so, the future is unclear. Yes, it’s true, the Master is adored! And we’re longing for Him to appear. But there’s many questions that we ask, As we journey through our paradigm. Are we really fitted for the task, Of fighting with the author of all crime? Can we beat the rulers of the dark? Are our weapons still appropriate? When in battle, do we miss the mark? Is our armour in a proper state? The answers Lord may well be false or true. When You return, we know we’ll look like You! -oOo- Jim Strickland – 8th July 2012
			3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3 ESV
			2 Dear friends, now we are God's children. What we will be isn't completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 So all people who have this confidence in Christ keep themselves pure, as Christ is pure. 1 John 3:2-3 GW
			30 I'll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don't worry--he has nothing on me, no claim on me. John 14:30 MSG
			26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; Hebrews 7:26 NASB
			12 Our fight is not against human beings. It is against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world. Ephesians 6:12 NIrV
			2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil--the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. Ephesians 2:2 NLT
			18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:18-19 TNIV