In the crazy pace of running to work, taking care of others, keeping the house from falling apart, errands, or simply trying to remain at peace in a chaotic world, we find ourselves in autopilot but equally feeling like we are lost or overlooked.
Sometimes it is good to step back, pause, and look at the things we take for granted, like a warm cup of coffee, the ability to get a warm shower, or a roof over your head even if it isn't in the best condition.
Look at the lessons we can gain from God's design in creation. The strength in numbers from the ants, the tree planted by the water will never have to depend solely on the rain, the bear who protects her cubs, the bees who harvest from miles away and works within a hive, the hawk who harnesses telescopic eyesight, the bat which uses echolocation to hear, or the blue whales who through vocalizations/ whale songs similar in melody to humans can communicate up to 4,000 miles away, the rock badgers tiny but designed to live within the roughest terrain, the millions of locusts which can move in formation and turn in any direction at a moments notice, the lizard in Biblical times was small but was seen as helpful in eating flies within the palace.
Proverbs 30:24-31
English Standard Version
24 Four things on earth are small,
but they are exceedingly wise:
25 the ants are a people not strong,
yet they provide their food in the summer;
26 the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
27 the locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in rank;
28 the lizard you can take in your hands,
yet it is in kings' palaces.
29 Three things are stately in their tread;
four are stately in their stride:
30 the lion, which is mightiest among beasts
and does not turn back before any;
31 the strutting rooster, the he-goat,
and a king whose army is with him.
We should take heart that even in the smallest to the greatest of creatures, God designed them all with different strengths and abilities that humans have for centuries admired or tried to replicate (for example, the aerodynamics of the bird with planes).
A human will always be the mightiest among beasts not due to strength but with the ability to think, create, and the will to survive. We are created and designed to harness strength or weakness.
Weakness through sin. Strength through abiding in the Lord that will renew our minds. Our minds being eternally connected to the eternal soul. Mind over matter as the body may have its limits, but the mind can be set in a foundation so secure that neither storm nor enemy can shake the structure built on top.
Living in sin will corrupt the mind. It will, like death, slowly cause your mind to decay into a state of depravity that the ills of sin will have totally consumed the sinner. A prelude to hell as in this state, life becomes that of the tormented.
We step back and take in the amazingness of the universe. How not only beautiful the images are of far-off stars or galaxies, but just how intelligently designed or orderly everything is for life on Earth to have even begun.
It is good to remind ourselves in the era of instant news, fast pace travel, and the internet that we are still like a speck of sand on the seashore, a droplet in the ocean, a planet among billions and billions of stars.
But yet the God who has created all these things chose to give His one and only Son over to be ridiculed, beaten, and crucified so that we may have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe. God is love; therefore, it is not a choice for God to love us. It was not a choice rather to give salvation to mankind or not. It was predetermined as God foresaw all that humanity would do, every evil imaginable. Even to the point God during the days of Noah regretted He had made mankind as evil had consumed the Earth. God could have destroyed everyone but out of love for humanity, He saw just one man who loved Him. The love of God, even to the last righteous man on Earth, subsided the wrath of God temporarily. The righteousness of Noah appeased the side of justice within God's character.
Knowing this type of God on a personal level helps us understand we are special in the eyes of God and that God's patient love for us supersedes quantity but focuses on quality. The quality of the heart, the mind, and the soul. A quality of righteousness, wisdom, and faith.
The quality of the individual is measured in our ability to love. The more we love the creator, the more we are to mirror the love of God. The more we renew our minds to be transformed into the will of God, the easier it becomes to adopt a mentality of strength, peace, joy, and love.
We can live in weakness, or we can live in strength. The choice is ours. Amen.
Sometimes it is good to step back, pause, and look at the things we take for granted, like a warm cup of coffee, the ability to get a warm shower, or a roof over your head even if it isn't in the best condition.
Look at the lessons we can gain from God's design in creation. The strength in numbers from the ants, the tree planted by the water will never have to depend solely on the rain, the bear who protects her cubs, the bees who harvest from miles away and works within a hive, the hawk who harnesses telescopic eyesight, the bat which uses echolocation to hear, or the blue whales who through vocalizations/ whale songs similar in melody to humans can communicate up to 4,000 miles away, the rock badgers tiny but designed to live within the roughest terrain, the millions of locusts which can move in formation and turn in any direction at a moments notice, the lizard in Biblical times was small but was seen as helpful in eating flies within the palace.
Proverbs 30:24-31
English Standard Version
24 Four things on earth are small,
but they are exceedingly wise:
25 the ants are a people not strong,
yet they provide their food in the summer;
26 the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
27 the locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in rank;
28 the lizard you can take in your hands,
yet it is in kings' palaces.
29 Three things are stately in their tread;
four are stately in their stride:
30 the lion, which is mightiest among beasts
and does not turn back before any;
31 the strutting rooster, the he-goat,
and a king whose army is with him.
We should take heart that even in the smallest to the greatest of creatures, God designed them all with different strengths and abilities that humans have for centuries admired or tried to replicate (for example, the aerodynamics of the bird with planes).
A human will always be the mightiest among beasts not due to strength but with the ability to think, create, and the will to survive. We are created and designed to harness strength or weakness.
Weakness through sin. Strength through abiding in the Lord that will renew our minds. Our minds being eternally connected to the eternal soul. Mind over matter as the body may have its limits, but the mind can be set in a foundation so secure that neither storm nor enemy can shake the structure built on top.
Living in sin will corrupt the mind. It will, like death, slowly cause your mind to decay into a state of depravity that the ills of sin will have totally consumed the sinner. A prelude to hell as in this state, life becomes that of the tormented.
We step back and take in the amazingness of the universe. How not only beautiful the images are of far-off stars or galaxies, but just how intelligently designed or orderly everything is for life on Earth to have even begun.
It is good to remind ourselves in the era of instant news, fast pace travel, and the internet that we are still like a speck of sand on the seashore, a droplet in the ocean, a planet among billions and billions of stars.
But yet the God who has created all these things chose to give His one and only Son over to be ridiculed, beaten, and crucified so that we may have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe. God is love; therefore, it is not a choice for God to love us. It was not a choice rather to give salvation to mankind or not. It was predetermined as God foresaw all that humanity would do, every evil imaginable. Even to the point God during the days of Noah regretted He had made mankind as evil had consumed the Earth. God could have destroyed everyone but out of love for humanity, He saw just one man who loved Him. The love of God, even to the last righteous man on Earth, subsided the wrath of God temporarily. The righteousness of Noah appeased the side of justice within God's character.
Knowing this type of God on a personal level helps us understand we are special in the eyes of God and that God's patient love for us supersedes quantity but focuses on quality. The quality of the heart, the mind, and the soul. A quality of righteousness, wisdom, and faith.
The quality of the individual is measured in our ability to love. The more we love the creator, the more we are to mirror the love of God. The more we renew our minds to be transformed into the will of God, the easier it becomes to adopt a mentality of strength, peace, joy, and love.
We can live in weakness, or we can live in strength. The choice is ours. Amen.