A Subtle Reminder

(If you think this doesn’t apply to you, wait till the end)

I was in the shower the other day when a spot on my back started to itch again. Even though it was my back that itched and not yours, you probably know exactly the spot I am talking about. It was that spot on your back that you just can’t reach yourself. It is a bit frustrating when there is an itch there.

I don’t seem to be the only one who suffers from getting an itch you just can’t scratch. In fact, there is a term for this exact thing:

Acnestis (ak-NEES-tis): The part of an animal's skin that it cannot reach to scratch itself - usually the space between the shoulder blades.

I was somewhat surprised to find a word for this plight.

All this got me to wondering why there is a spot we cannot reach. Did God create mankind in all our magnificence and then when Adam got the first itch on his back that he could not reach say “Oops, I didn’t think about that?” I highly doubt that God did not foresee this issue. I am not saying this is a major issue or anything. However, his ability to design to the smallest detail is so astounding that I believe He never says “Oops” about anything He has designed. (In fact my latest book is devoted to that exact topic: God Doesn’t Say Oops)

If God could foresee this problem, why did He not simply adjust the design of our shoulders or our elbows to bend just a few degrees more to be able to reach our acnestis (the spot we cannot reach)? This is total speculation on my part, but I believe I may know one reason why He gave us a spot we just could not reach alone. It may be a way for God to subtly remind each of us that we cannot do everything by ourselves; we often need help from others. This need is one of the primary reasons why God created the church. Sure, you can get a stick or something to scratch your back, but that still requires you to look outside yourself for help to some degree. The most fulfilling way to have that itch scratched is to have someone else scratch it for you. Then you can just relax and enjoy it.

God designed us to need other people in our lives. A very wise man once wrote:

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17 (HCSB)

Being around others helps us grow stronger (emotionally, mentally, and sometimes physically). There is also power in simply being with other people:

And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:12 (HCSB)

God wants us to depend on other people and not merely on ourselves. That is one of the main purposes of Christ establishing the church. It is here to help us through this life.

So, the next time your back itches and you just can’t reach that itch, remember that you are not meant to go through life alone. Be thankful that God has put others in your life to help you with that itch and with the much more serious problems you encounter in your journey through this life.

[Addendum: Apparently some of us need to be reminded that we cannot do everything by ourselves more than others. After I wrote this blog, I showed it to my wife who quickly responded, “I can reach my entire back. I don’t have an acnestis.” Then, to my dismay, both of my kids and her promptly showed me that they can in fact reach every spot on their backs without any help. I then started to think I was quite unique in the fact that there is a massive area on my back that I cannot reach. After that, I started asking my friends, neighbors, and strangers if they did or did not have an acnestis. (I loved the looks I got from this question.) I was happy to discover that most people do in fact have a place on their backs which they cannot reach. I was not happy that they could not reach those spots but that my wife and 2 kids were the odd-balls and not myself.

So, if you have no trouble reaching everywhere on your body by yourself, then maybe you do not need to be reminded that you need help from others quite as much as I do.]

This is Not Plan B

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 25:34 (HCSB)

Many people in the world have the misconception that Eve messed up the plan God had for us. There may even be some who think we would still be in the Garden of Eden if she had not taken a bite from that fruit.  However, Eve did not wreck God’s plans.  I will discuss why we know that is true in a bit, but I want us to think about this misconception first.  You may think this misunderstanding doesn’t really mean much, but there are some important implications to believing this lie.

One thing implied by this misconception is that humans have the power to hinder God’s plans.  We don’t.  God is far too powerful for that.  Thinking we can throw a monkey wrench into God’s plans is simply giving us too much credit.  Job had it right when he replied to God saying, “I know that You can do anything and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)  Later, we will see why Eve did not mess up His plans.

Another thing implied by the misconception that Eve messed up God’s plans is that God did not see it coming.  That is not true.  God knew mankind would sin and would need to be saved from those sins.  The Bible tells us He had a plan to save us from our sins before He even created the world.  Paul tells us:

⁴For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself.
Ephesians 1:4-5 (HCSB)

Before God even created the world, He knew we would need to be adopted back as His children through Jesus Christ.  God knew man was too weak to resist sin.  I am sure he knew Adam and Eve would sin since no person is strong enough to resist the attraction of sin.  Because He knew this, He planned for Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price of our sins before He even made us.  Wow, that is love!  God wanted us to be able to enjoy Him so much that the Father and the Son were willing to pay that price.

Some people think that since God knew Adam and Eve would fall to sin and since He placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil right there in front of them that God was setting them up for failure.  That is true in a sense but false in another.  It is true that God placing them in the Garden with the tree did guarantee them to fall victim to sin.  While this is true, God had already planned to pay the price for their mistake before He put them there.  It is kind of like having a teacher giving her students a VERY hard test on purpose.  The students fail the test horribly.  However, after she grades the tests and informs the students of their grades, she turns around and retakes the test herself and gives each student a 100% on the test.  While it is true that Adam and Eve failed the test, they still got to be 100% pure in the end because Jesus took the test too and passed it for them.

God’s plan for mankind was made before the creation of the world and before Adam and Eve’s sin.  That sin did not change His plan one bit.  The Heavenly Kingdom awaiting all Christians was planned before they sinned and even before this creation was made.

Gifts Eternal

As I am trying to get good deals on Christmas gifts for my kids and my wife, I wanted to take a minute and reflect on gifts in general.  Yes, it is fun to open up that new tablet, new camera, or new 70” television.  But, these things only give us pleasure for a short while.  It is good to give the people you love things which make them happy and show them you care about them, but we need to keep these things in the proper perspective.  It is also good to receive gifts.  However, we cannot let these short lived pleasures take our eyes off the gift God has planned for all Christians.

I have been thinking about Heaven much more since I wrote a book about it last year.  That experience really helped me gain an eternal perspective on life.  I still slip into short term thinking quite often, but I am getting better about thinking about the eternal impacts of my daily choices.  Thinking about the treasure of Heaven really helps when I am having “one of those days.”  So, this shopping season I have been reflecting on the differences between the gifts we give one another and the gifts God gives to us.

The most basic of the gifts God gave us is creation itself; without which we of course would not be around to appreciate anything God has to offer.  But more than that, He went far beyond what was required to keep us alive on this planet when He created the universe.  He created a vast cosmos which boggles our minds and which we can admire.  He created this earth with such beauty and majesty when he could have created everything in shades of gray.  We would have been perfectly functional if gray were all we could see.  We might have had shape-lights instead of red-lights but we would have managed just fine.  However, He wanted us to enjoy His creation and so He gave us the gift of seeing the beautiful colors which He created.  With this gift we can admire the stunning colors of a butterfly, the incredible shades of red and pink in the sunset, and the thousands of different types of flowers.  God went way beyond what we needed in the gift of creation.

No list of gifts from God would be complete without listing the gift of Jesus.  We in no way deserved for the Son of God to die to solve our problems, but He wanted to do it.  Even though this was something extremely hard to do, it brought Him joy to give this gift to us: “who for the joy set before him endured the cross.” (Heb 12:2 NIV)  Yes, the gift of salvation cost Jesus dearly, but He gladly paid that price to give it to us.  Jesus’ sacrifice could have made it possible for us to be with God as his slaves or servants and that would have still been a great blessing.  But, God went far beyond what we needed with this gift and actually adopts us as His children and makes us co-heirs with Christ. (Gal 4:7, Rom 8:17)  Once again He gave us much more than what we needed.

There are many other blessings and gifts which God gives to us.  I could not possibly list them all, but I do want to help us focus on the gift, or the prize, for which we are all striving as Christians.  We need to constantly keep in the forefront of our minds the eternal gift of Heaven which God is preparing for us.  No amount of mega-television sets, tablets, iPhones, or whatever can compare to what awaits each of us.  We may think we are going way beyond what is needed in a gift we give to someone.  But, no matter how extravagant the gift, the happiness it brings will fade with time.  “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)  God is the only one who can truly meet our needs and even exceed them.

I am not saying we should not give gifts to each other (wife, did you catch that?).  I am merely saying we need to keep the gifts we give in perspective and give them for the same reasons God gives us gifts.  God’s gifts are all to enable us to have a relationship with Him and to help others do the same.  When we give a gift we should not expect the gift itself to work some miracle.  But, we should be focusing on how that gift will affect our relationship with the person we are giving it to.  The enjoyment of the gift will fade, but that relationship can last for all eternity.

While we are out fighting the crowds or online at home looking for that great deal on the perfect gift, we have to remember we cannot ever buy a perfect gift.  God is the only one who can give those.  It is good for us to give gifts to each other to show we care for each other.  However, we can only give things which may give temporary happiness.  That happiness will fade.  Only God can give gifts which give joy and happiness for all eternity.  Thank you God for this beautiful creation, the undeserved gift of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and the other blessings we have in this life.  But, most of all, thank you for the gift of Heaven which you have planned for us.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)