CREATION SPEAKS OF THE CREATOR – Part 1 of 2

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”  (Psalm 19:1)

Creation is not silent. Every sunrise, every crashing wave, every whisper of wind carries a message. The world God made is not merely scenery -- it is testimony. It reveals God’s character, power, and heart. When we slow down long enough to look, creation becomes a sanctuary where God’s fingerprints are everywhere.

Creation Reveals God’s Glory. The vastness of the heavens stretches our imagination. Billions of stars, galaxies beyond counting -- yet God calls each one by name. “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” (Psalm 147:4) The night sky reminds us that God is both majestic and mindful. If He knows the stars, He surely knows you.

Creation Reveals God’s Power. Mountains that pierce the clouds, oceans that roar with strength -- these are glimpses of His might. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities -- His eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen…” (Romans 1:20)  Creation is God’s sermon without words. Its power points to a God who is never overwhelmed, never outmatched, never uncertain. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™ 

#6416

LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY FRIEND

Jesus said, "I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you."  (John 15:15 NIV)

“Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”  (John 17:3 NIV)

We talk about God in the third person. We teach about God. However, we don't teach about our spouses or about our good friends. We introduce them, not teach about them. Too often we relate to God as a myth or a theorem to be talked about and not as a friend to be introduced.

-- Adapted from Norman Shawchuck in “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God”

#6415

WHAT KIND OF WITNESS ARE WE?

Jesus said to His disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:34-35 NIV)

Sheldon Vanauken (1914–1996) wrote that the strongest argument for Christianity is Christians, when they are drawing life from God. The strongest argument against Christianity? Also Christians, when they become exclusive, self-righteous, and complacent.

Dallas Willard (1925-2013) [in his book “The Spirit of the Disciplines”] wrote, "How many people are radically and permanently repelled from The Way by Christians who are unfeeling, stiff, unapproachable, boringly lifeless, obsessive, and dissatisfied? Yet such Christians are everywhere, and what they are missing is the wholesome liveliness springing from a balanced vitality with the freedom of God's loving rule…. Spirituality wrongly understood or pursued is a major source of human misery and rebellion against God."

-- John Ortberg in “The Life You've Always Wanted”

#6414

A CHILD-LIKE SPIRIT

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  (Matthew 19:14 NIV)

Faith is sometimes equated with credulity, but it can be so equated only when the profound mistake is made of thinking of faith as primarily a matter of intellectual assent.  As the New Testament uses the word, faith is trust, acceptance, commitment, vision.  It is not a belief in this or that creed, it is a quality which lies rather in the realm of intuition than the intellect. Faith has indeed an element of true simplicity; it is one of the qualities -- perhaps the fundamental quality -- of the child-like spirit without which no one can enter the Kingdom of God. 

-- Anonymous, attributed to Charles Wesley, from “Christian Quotation of the Day” 

#6413

OUR HOPE IS IN THE LORD

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.’  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”  (Lamentations 3:21-26 NIV)

At a time when I thought my world had all but ended, when the realization was hammering at my heart that my daughter's death was not some nightmare from which I would recover but was for all time, a friend came into the room, put her arms around my neck, and said, "Everything's going to be all right."

I thought she was crazy.  And yet.... and yet.... was it possible that she was right?

I had occasion, some years later, to be the consoler of a young woman whose son had lapsed into a coma from which he would not recover, and my words to her were the same.  "Everything's going to be all right." And I felt my friend from that earlier time standing beside me, nodding - See, that's what I told you.

Improbably though it seems when grief first assaults us we do come to learn, though the surface of our life will often be in turmoil, that on a deep and unshakable level there is indeed a confidence that all is well. 

Until that happens, we cling to the testimony of others and take hope: if for them, why not for us, too? 

-- Martha Whitmore Hickman in “Healing After Loss”

#6412