Walking With Christ

(Part 1 of 5)

⚓ Floatie:  Jurisdiction Before Compassion

Genesis 2:16–17  (16)And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, (17)but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”(ESV)

Before we talk about mercy or justice, Scripture forces us to answer a quieter question:  Who owns the right to act?

Genesis doesn’t open with chaos.  It opens with order, boundaries, and permission.

Notice what’s already present before sin enters the story in Genesis 2:

• Abundance
• Freedom
• Command
• Restriction

Eden wasn’t lost because God withheld good.  It was lost because humanity redefined permission.  That pattern still governs how mercy and justice are misused today.

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✒️ Forge:  Authority Is Not Proven by Outcome

The first sin wasn’t ignorance.  Eve didn’t lack information.  The command had already been given.  The serpent doesn’t deny God’s words; he reframes them.  He shifts the question from “What belongs to God?” to “Why can’t you decide this for yourself?”

That’s the moment authority is stolen.

When Adam and Eve take the fruit, they aren’t merely disobeying.  They are seizing jurisdiction—deciding for themselves what good and evil will mean in practice.

Scripture never treats that as a small thing.  This is why Paul later writes in Romans with such restraint when talking about judgment:

Romans 12:19  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”(ESV)

Paul doesn’t say injustice isn’t real.  He doesn’t say action is never required.  He says ownership matters.

Vengeance doesn’t become sin because it feels harsh.  It becomes sin because it belongs to God.  That same logic applies to mercy.

Grace is never described as a human possession.  It’s always something shown, extended, or reflected—never owned.  That’s why Scripture warns so consistently against presumption.

Authority isn’t inferred from need.  Permission isn’t inferred from emotion.  In Scripture, the right to act flows from assignment, not urgency.

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⚒️ Anvil:  Borrowed Power Still Produces Real Effects

This is where modern thinking collapses.  We assume that if harm exists, permission is automatic.  Scripture never grants that.  In fact, Scripture shows us repeatedly that acting without authority creates new guilt, even when the goal is good.

That’s why Saul’s sacrifice is rejected.  That’s why Uzzah is struck down for steadying the ark.  That’s why unauthorized fire is condemned in Leviticus.

Each case follows the same pattern:

• The intention is understandable
• The outcome seems reasonable
• The action was not assigned

Which means it was theft.

Leviticus uses the phrase “unauthorized fire” for a reason.  Fire itself isn’t evil.  God commands its use elsewhere.  The problem is who lit it and when.

This is why restraint isn’t weakness in Scripture.  It’s obedience.

Waiting when you are not sent is faithfulness.  Acting when you aren’t authorized is presumption.  And here’s the uncomfortable turn:  refusing to act when you are responsible is also theft.

Silence can steal just as surely as action can.  But the standard is the same in both cases:  Were you assigned this responsibility, or did you assume it?

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🔥 Ember:  When Function Masks Theft

This is where the text presses on us instead of the other way around.  Most people don’t steal authority aggressively.  They do it sincerely.

We feel compassion and mistake it for mandate.  We see suffering and mistake it for permission.  We act quickly because waiting feels unloving.  But Scripture never equates speed with faithfulness.

In fact, Scripture often treats haste as a warning sign.  Proverbs ties wisdom to patience.  Isaiah warns against running ahead of God.  Jesus Himself refuses to act on several occasions, even when people beg Him to intervene.

That should unsettle us.

It means you can do the “right” thing at the wrong time and still be wrong.  It means you can relieve pain prematurely and weaken what God is forming.

That’s not because God lacks compassion.  It’s because He refuses to lie about what a thing is before it’s finished.

Holding borrowed fire requires more than empathy.  It requires reverence.

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🌿 Covenant Triumph:  God Accounts for What We Cannot Unwind

Here’s the hope that doesn’t excuse presumption.  God never punishes humanity for not being God.  He punishes humanity for trying to be.

He doesn’t ask us to carry judgment, vengeance, or final mercy.  He asks us to obey within the boundaries He sets.

That’s freedom, not limitation.

If you aren’t sent, restraint is obedience.  If you are assigned, silence is disobedience.  But in both cases, the question is the same:  Did this belong to you?

Before we talk about compassion without compromise, we must recover this discipline:  to act only when authorized, and to wait only when permitted.  Because fire isn’t dangerous by nature.  Forgetting that it’s borrowed is.

In the next message, we’ll dismantle one of the most persistent lies in religious thinking—that outcomes prove permission—and we’ll do it directly from the text.  Because Scripture is very clear about this:  Stolen fire still burns.

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[⚓ Floatie] [✒️ Forge] [⚒️ Anvil] [🔥 Ember] [🌿 Covenant Triumph]
This post follows the Forge Baseline Rule—layered truth for the discerning remnant.