Ordinary People

This time we'll (try to) take it slow.

My Gym Experience Today:

Instructor: Just TWENTY more seconds of pushups guys, c'mon!

... 40 seconds later.

Instructor: Now just TEN more seconds of pushups, we can do this!

Collapses on floor.

Control: Man and Sin

The theme of control emerges at least twice in the Eden story. The first is in the control that Man was given over nature, and the control that sin seeks over Man.

• First: Man Takes On World
• Man is made so that they "may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
• So, we were made to have control. This is news. I usually think of having control as something I give up upon being a Christian. I hand over the keys of my life to God. And I lose control. He increases, I decrease, and so on. But that probably simplifies things too much. We are clearly made to rule stuff. 

• Second: Sin Takes On Man.
• Man is not alone in his mission to rule the world. Sin is his competition. "[S]in is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (emphasis added). 
• We don't really know what sin is. First time we encounter the thing. The Bible just throws the word at you. Doesn't bother defining it. 
• Of course, we could try to understand it:
• Sin crouches...: It lies low, as if to be undetected, poised to strike at its prey at the most vulnerable time
• ... at my door: It's taken a residence up close to where I am in the bent of my thoughts and desires. 
• Sin desires to have the sinner: Sin is a parasite that seeks to take control of its host. 
• Sin is to be ruled: Not destroyed, not fought against, but ruled. Like the flyers and the creepers. Weird?