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Genesis 3 – A Great Head Fake

August 27, 2018October 26, 2016 by Bret Legg

In a lecture entitled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Randy Pausch talked about something he called a “head fake.” A “head fake” is when you think you’re learning about one thing, but you’re actually learning about something different.

Genesis chapter three contains one of the great “head fakes” in the Bible. When you read Genesis chapter three, you learn about the fall of man where Adam and Eve decided to veer from God’s ways and choose their own. Your read about…

Eve being enticed to desire what God had prohibited.
Eve going rogue and choosing to ignore God’s desires.
Adam choosing to follow Eve into rebellion rather than obey God.
Their sudden shame and hiding from God and each other.
God sending them out of the garden and into a harsh reality.

The entire chapter seems to be about the terrible sin and punishment of Adam and Eve. But here’s the “head fake.” Genesis chapter 3 is about more than just the sin of man. It’s also about the mercy of God. It’s about more than just man’s fall. It’s about God’s lifting. Think about it…

God knew what they had done, but He still came to pursue them.
God could have laid into them, but He asked them what happened.
God could have wiped them out and made someone else who would obey, but He committed to seeing it through with them.
God could have left them barely clothed, but instead He clothed them.
God could have left them in the garden to eat from the tree of life and thus be stuck in their condition, but he sent them out and guarded the entrance to prevent that from happening.

Our tendency is to fall. God’s tendency is to lift up. Our tendency is to run from Him. His tendency is to run toward us.

Think about how God is showing you mercy, despite your choices.

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Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.f

Genesis 2 – Retelling the Story

August 3, 2020October 25, 2016 by Bret Legg

One reason to tell the same story twice is that you left something out the first time you told it. When you tell the story a second time, your focus is different from the first telling.

In Genesis chapter 2, God tells the creation story a second time with a different focus. The first time He tells the creation story is in Genesis chapter one. There, He focuses on the reasonable order of creation. The second time He tells the creation story is in Genesis chapter 2. There, He focuses on the relational intent of the creation story. They’re the same story told from different perspectives.

Why is this important? Because it takes both perspectives to properly describe God. God is both reasonable and relational. He is both powerful and personable.

It’s easy to either make God so powerful He’s no longer personable, or to make God so relational that He’s no longer reasonable. We either make Him so much God that He’s no longer Father, or so much Father He’s no longer God.

Let’s not forget that God is both the God who made us and the God who wants to walk with us.

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Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 1 – In the Beginning

August 27, 2018October 24, 2016 by Bret Legg

Though science and faith argue over how things were created, they both agree there is a reasonableness to creation. They agree there is a purposeful progression to how things came to be.

This is exactly what you see in Genesis chapter 1. There, God brings things into being and progressively brings them into order and purpose. He originates, orchestrates, and organizes each part of creation to fulfill a purpose.

Like creation, you and I have a beginning and we continue to develop and progress toward some sort of purpose.

As people of faith, we are quick to affirm the creative power and plan of God when it comes to creation, but then we doubt God’s creative power and plan when it comes to our lives. It doesn’t make sense to believe that God can purposefully create and manage an entire cosmos, but can’t be trusted to manage and guide our lives.

Genesis chapter 1 should give us confidence that our Creator is as invested and intentional in over-seeing our lives as He is in overseeing the cosmos.

Where is it that you need to trust the God of all creation today?

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Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

How to Improve Your Marriage Pictures

April 16, 2018October 20, 2016 by Bret Legg

We’ve all had our share of bad photos. Think back to your fashion-questionable high school days, or those family portraits that looked more like the Adams Family than a happy family. It’s safe to say we all have pictures we would like to delete from the archives.

The other day, I came across The 50 Weirdest Engagement Portraits Of All Time. It’s just what it says…50 very weird engagement photos. They are painful to look at and they leave you asking, “What were they thinking?”

All this got me wondering, “What would pictures of my marriage look like over the years?”

Has Your Marriage Been Hacked By a Virus?

April 16, 2018October 12, 2016 by Bret Legg

Computer viruses are maddening. When a virus gets into your computer, it changes the way your computer operates. All of a sudden the computer doesn’t work as smoothly as it use to. It gets sluggish, acts erratically and sometimes just shuts down.

Marriages, like computers, are susceptible to viruses that can effect the health and operation of the marriage. Here’s how it works…

Movie Disagreement Disorder

April 16, 2018September 28, 2016 by Bret Legg

I’m a Star Wars husband married to a Lifetime movie wife. This weekend, TNT ran a back-to-back Star Wars marathon. I was ecstatic. My wife…not so much.

When I got married, I didn’t realize our marriage would suffer from MDD…Movie Disagreement Disorder. It’s a very common disorder, found in most marriages.

Some of the symptoms of MDD are:

Marriage Is Like A Dented Fender

April 16, 2018September 6, 2016 by Bret Legg

A few weeks ago, I had a fender bender coming home from work. It was a very minor fender bender. No one was hurt. There was only a small amount of damage to my car and no damage to the other car. We didn’t even have to call the police.

I was glad that the damage was so minor, but my car had been in pristine condition up until this point. Now there was this dent in the front of my car for everyone to see.

I became a little OCD about it. Every time I walked to my car, I would stop and look at the dent. When I went into the garage to get something, I would look at it. I was beginning to fixate on the dent.

What Divorce Does to Kids

April 16, 2018August 31, 2016 by Bret Legg

The other day, I was cleaning out some files and came across a poem, written by a divorced mom on behalf of her two children. The poem had no title, so I’ve given it the title: “My Daddy Doesn’t Live Here.” It’s heartbreaking to read, but it’s a good reminder of how divorce affects kids.

3 Major Marriage Decisions

March 1, 2017August 24, 2016 by Bret Legg

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Sometimes marriage can feel like an endless stream of decisions. Even if you decide not to make a decision…that’s still a decision!

These decisions come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

There are minor decisions like: Where do we go to eat? Who cleans up after the dog? What movie will we watch? Who will take out the trash?

Then there are major decisions like: Is it time to have a baby? Should we change careers and move? What should we do about our wayward teen? How do we care for our aging parents?

Kids and Marriage – What Were We Thinking?

June 14, 2022August 15, 2016 by Bret Legg

There are some things in life that seem like a good idea at the time, but later cause you to ask, “What was I thinking?”

Maybe it was that person who seemed so good on the first couple of dates that later left you asking, “What was I thinking?” Maybe it was training for that half marathon that caused you to say, “What was I thinking?” Or maybe it was that job change that looked good on paper, but left you wondering, “What was I thinking?” (For more ideas, take a look at your high school yearbook pictures.)

Having kids can be one of those things that seems like a good idea at the time, but can leave you wondering, “What was I thinking?”

Genesis 3 – A Great Head Fake

Genesis 2 – Retelling the Story

Genesis 1 – In the Beginning

How to Improve Your Marriage Pictures

Has Your Marriage Been Hacked By a Virus?

Movie Disagreement Disorder

Marriage Is Like A Dented Fender

What Divorce Does to Kids

3 Major Marriage Decisions

Kids and Marriage – What Were We Thinking?

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