The surgeon general does not approve of this picture. Taking pictures while you drive is dangerous to your health and the well-being of those around you. Phew! Now that is clear (because thinking people don't know that already :) -- I took this picture because there was a rainbow. Not just the tiny blur of rainbow visible in the middle of the photo, but an arrestingly beautiful bow. The problem was the camera lens couldn't see it. And it reminded me how often we are confident that we see the whole picture, accurately -- but we don't. Every time we study God's word, worship His majesty, and express our opinions, it is crucial to remember how limited our understanding truly is. My camera thought it captured everything and as far as everyone who didn't see the rainbow knows, it did. Afterall, it was mostly right. There was a speed limit sign, and an 18-wheeler in front of me -- the sun was really shining. But as the distracted driver of the car, risking her life to take this picture, I can categorically say: The camera didn't see all of reality and failed to capture what was truly important. Unlike God, whose vision is always perfect, our perspective is more like my camera -- focused on getting a great shot of a speed limit sign while distorting the focal point. In general, designers are self-centered. They care only how their creations look, not how they look on real people. Who cares if this cut makes most of the female population look like a beach ball on legs or if that pattern draws everyone's attention to the wrong spots? Isn't it gorgeous to look at on this faceless manakin? God, on the other hand, always designs with a face in mind. In infinite love and wisdom, He looks at our broken world housing our broken lives and begins His creative work. He knows our greatest need is Himself, and He is able to use every circumstance to conform us to the image of Christ – which is the most flattering look for all mankind. That is how God can promise and keep Romans 8:28. Whether He convicts or corrects or comforts, our best is to be like Jesus. To that end, He gives and He takes away. He says no, and wait and stay and go, from His perfect, all-knowing, infinite love. That is His motive. The question is: What motive are we mentally assigning to God? Creativity in fashion (think the red carpet and catwalks) like art and life, can be startlingly hideous, but rarely is it strikingly lovely. And ironically, neither is it unique. Someone somewhere has done that before. Inspiration came from something, nature or history or another designer.
In other words, our creativity comes from somewhere. This is demonstrated by our inability to conceive new colors. We can mix colors from existing colors and produce a shade or hue we desire. But the capability to create entirely new color is impossible to comprehend (not to mention see since our eyes are only see a certain spectrum). God does not have this issue. His creativity comes from Himself. His perfection. His goodness. His boundless mind and capacity. He created the colors and the eyes that sees them as a mere taste of His all-powerful creativity. The question is: Do we recognize and submit to His creative power? I came close to laughing out loud in store this week. They were selling bell-bottom pants, that looked like they could have come from both my childhood and my mother’s childhood. It is a well-known fact that in fashion, if you just wait long enough, that skirt or that shirt will be trendy again.
What’s old really will be new, because, though they would be insulted by this statement: Designers have limited creativity, as a necessary reflection of their finiteness. Their brains have limited capacity, experience, and ability. Thus, every 20 years, like clockwork, they rework, repurpose and recycle their ideas, and we can buy bell-bottoms again. God’s creativity however is unlimited, as a necessary reflection of His infinity. He is perfect in capacity, experience, and ability. He is never stumped and forced to use the same idea or concept twice – unless He wants to. He never has to give anyone the same gifts or circumstances or personality or skills. He always looks at the drawing board of our lives with perfect knowledge and insight ready to do a new thing. The question is: Have we joined Him in what He is doing? ...There is no middle ground. Once we truly believe, our lives will reflect that faith either in rebellion or rejoicing. Well, some would say, what about the religious leaders -- don't they show us a third choice? The teachers and priests in Jerusalem had the Book that held the keys to the coming of the King. They knew the Old Testament inside and out. They dedicated their scholarly minds and their professional lives to it. The prophecies held no secrets back from them -- they thought. But when they heard the proclamation of the kings and the words of their sacred book, they...did nothing. Because they didn't believe. If they had believed, they would have acted. Many of us like to think apathy is an option when we believe. It's not. Apathy is the proof of our disbelief. For good or ill, those who believe, act. Our invitation today is to believe, and rejoice in the truth. You don't hear many sermons on King Herod's example to us. I've never heard one. But I have a thought to ponder. The kings from the East studied the stars and the literature they had. They observed, reasoned, and concluded that the King of Israel was being born. Even without the Scriptures, they believed this to the point where they risked life, fortune, and reputation to travel hundreds of miles or more on some sort of foot -- theirs or an animal's. And when they arrived in Jerusalem they heard the prophecy of Micah and trekked down to a little, dirty town -- seeking that King. Because they believed and rejoiced. King Herod heard the words of the Magi together with the words of Scripture. He put two and two together, and he believed, but did not rejoice. Based on that belief, King Herod, whether he knew it or not, fulfilled the prophecies of Scripture, slaughtering the babes of Bethlehem. Because King Herod believed and rebelled. When we believe those are our two options -- we can believe and rebel against God or we can believe and rejoice... Our culture has made a serious decision. Love is proven with candy...lots of candy...especially chocolate...with red roses and a fluffy white bear, the bigger the better. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you know, for sure, someone loves you (at least in February)
In the midst of this deluge of sugar and red hearts, we all know love isn't proven by a single gift one time a year. And some of us feel distinctly unloved especially on February 14th, because we know love can be proven, but chocolate isn't the way. So on this special day, some of us need to know something else. There is Someone who loves us dearly. God proved His love for us like this: When we were rebelling against Him, He came and died in our place. This is the way Jesus rescued us from God's righteous wrath and made us ready for a relationship with God. -- Romans 5:8-9 (paraphrased) God's Valentine's verse (Romans 5:8-9), speaks to each of us, but it is up to us to listen. You and I are loved by God so much that even though We have sinned against Him and pushed God away, He sent Jesus to pay the price for our sins So I could be forgiven and freed from my sins, And so you could be forgiven and freed from your sins, Now you and I are invited to know and follow Him forever. Do you believe this? If not, God still loves you, and today is your opportunity to ask God to change your heart and mind. If yes, God still loves you, and your life, today, is the opportunity to love Him back with obedience and worship. Happy Valentine's Day! "It's the end of the world as we know it -- and I feel fine." I hummed along with my dentist's soundtrack and smiled: That cannot be the best song for people scared of the dentist. And even though I was pretty sure it was a famous song, I wasn't thinking about the artist or when it came out or even what they thought they were talking about. I was thinking about how often we feel that it is indeed the end of our world -- the car breaks down, someone is moving, the government is doing X, Y, or Z. So often it seems like everything is falling to pieces around us. But through God's grace we may feel many things, but we are indeed fine. He is carrying us. He is leading us. He is on the other side of whatever crises we are facing. Therefore, even if it really is the end of the world as we know it -- our Savior is waiting to receive us and we are so much better than fine.
Hard. Easy. Boring. Someone else's pieces always look better. But that is just a farce. God tells us that no good thing does He withhold from us who are right with Him (Psalm 84:11). When we are tempted to envy someone else's life pieces we can choose instead to reiterate to ourselves (and express to God) the Truth. Our God is good. He is trustworthy to give us good. He promises His children that all things will work out for good. (However, there is no promise that we will instantly see or understand this good.) Our Savior loves us. He gave you your pieces and me my pieces out of love. He promises that, regardless of the pieces or how badly I have messed up His pieces, He will never leave us or forsake us. Puzzles have easy parts and hard parts and boring parts, but all those sections come together to form the artist's plan. Life has easy parts and hard parts and boring parts, but for those who follow Christ all those sections come together to complete His plan. A field of mixed flowers. The beach with toys and crabs. A crowd of people. Sometimes the puzzle pieces we get stuck with are MONTONOUS. They aren't hard or easy. They are just a lot of the same pieces, over and over again. Life sometimes seems like that. Our pieces are MONTONOUS. The kids are sick again. The car broke down again. There isn't enough money for vacation again. At least hard pieces drive us to God in our distress. At least easy pieces are enjoyable. But when "every" life piece God gives us is the same, it's easy to grow bored and lose our focus on Christ. It is in the mundane that we are called to look up -- out of the diapers and the paperwork and the vacuuming -- and fix our gaze on our Savior. He knew and did the need-to-do parts of life. And He realized that those boring parts of life prepare us for the hard and the easy parts. In the mundane we have the opportunity to seek Him, grow in faithfulness, and live as the new creatures He has made us to be. |
The AuthorCome with me as we grow in fellowship with each other and our Savior to whom belongs the Amazing Escape from sin and death and the Amazing Journey into glorious life. Archives
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