All tagged creation
Prayer, the Word of God, and creation, go hand in hand because all of creation is made holy by the Word of God and prayer. That is a thought worth contemplating. Have we ever considered that our prayers might be helping to bring goodness, and holiness, to creation?
Our lives and troubles in life are as varied between us as the variety of snowflakes during a winter snow, and yet The Lord is able to deal with us all uniquely. In our lives we find that the troubles and trials which any individual faces are as varied as the DNA that sets the pattern for their physical bodies. Yet, despite this incredible diversity The Holy Spirit is able to lead each of us to Jesus Christ, and through Him to God, where He loves us the same, even while interacting with us in a personally unique way.
Today we are reminded that prayer, and God's provision, concerns itself with all things in our lives and not just the large needs we might have. He doesn’t just step in when we are overwhelmed, and leave the day to day details to us. Our devotional this morning is centered on the painstaking workmanship of God, and isn't it wonderful that there is nothing so tiny that it escapes God's attention? We have a tendency to triage our needs for prayer; placing the large issues and needs foremost in our petition to the Lord, but we are remiss if we neglect the small needs and desires of our everyday lives. Jesus expressed the level of detail in which God watches over us when taught. Listen…
If you were to look around right now would you see God in everything about you? Would you look at the items in the room, or the trees in your backyard and say “God, how magnificent you are!”, or would you struggle to find him? Seeing God in every aspect of our lives, and in every scene, thing, or occurrence that makes us feel alive, takes spiritual training.
Today I celebrate my wife's birthday. I have lived with her longer than any other human being on earth, and in that time I have loved her without reservation. My love for her forms one of the foundation stones of my life, and like my love for Jesus Christ, it rests firmly upon God Himself. Have you ever heard someone say that they have dedicated their life to this thing or that? Let’s think about dedicating one's life. I have thought about this a great deal lately and have concluded that although we can dedicate ourselves to certain people, ideas, and things, there are three things that we will never be able to say we have dedicated ourselves to, and all three involve a covenant, and a love that defies description.
Who are we as men, and when we look at ourselves as God’s creation what do we see? Moreover, what does God see when He looks upon us? Do we see ourselves as being the joining of two independent and separate creatures, one that is physical and earthly, and another that is spiritual and heavenly, or do we see ourselves as one being, that is both of these manifestations simultaneously? Does God see us as spiritual beings trapped in a fallen earthly body, or a joint creation of both body and spirit that are one, inseparable, and in need of a single redemption and forgiveness that includes both?
When we think of being crucified with Jesus, just where do we envision ourselves in that process? Are we entering Jerusalem, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, being taken before the high priest, standing before Pilot, receiving a beating at the hands of the guards, being scourged and cut by the whip, stumbling under the weight of the cross as we walk the Via Dolorosa, crying out in pain as the nails are driven through us, hanging above the crowd as our life ebbs away, or have we taken our last breath, are we laying in the tomb, being resurrected, speaking once again to our disciples, or ascending into heaven? What does being crucified with Christ mean to us?
We read scriptural references regarding our becoming a new person once we have accepted Jesus as our savior, and many of us think that this simply means we aren’t to sin anymore, but it is much more than that. Our transformation as Christians becomes complete, just like our love for God... we are to be transformed heart, soul, body, and mind. Every facet of our being is to become new, and our old self and life not just modified in some way, but put to death... it shouldn’t exist any longer. What was once ME having become what is now CHRIST.
There is so much beauty in this world, and God made it this way to be pleasant for our physical habitation, and to provide us sustenance, but when sin entered it through man it became tainted by him. The dominion he had been given over the creatures of the earth turned from caring for them into such things as widespread slaughter for pelts, deforestation, and reckless over-fishing for monetary gain. Suddenly men were loving the world as mammon, and not as God Intended... by seeing Him glorified in it... He who made it for them.