Do you feel like you want to make an impact for the Kingdom, but you’re insignificant and what you’re doing amounts to nothing? Do you feel like the glories you share about Christ fall on deaf ears, passed over and powerless?
When we love Christ, we do our best to proclaim Him in whatever way the Lord gives us to do so, and as much as we can. But the Christian walk oftentimes is one of plodding, and as we tread through the days on our calendar, sometimes we might feel like though our hearts burst with love and dedication, our sphere is too small to make any difference at all. We are not a mighty redwood, but a small ant.
Romans 1:20: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities; his eternal power and divine nature; have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
Beauty in this world is an echo of Eden. Our very souls in their innermost parts know God is in the center of the beautiful. No? Then why do we sigh when the sun dips below a beautiful sunset? Why do we ache for the sweep of the tide and the undulations of the ocean? Why do we thirst for moonrise, settle into the sway of the pine tree? God is beauty. We long for the open spaces of our soul to be filled with His empyrean substance as expressed through nature.
Is it true that a person can come to know about God through nature? Yes. The scriptures say so, and that is the ultimate authority. It is how I came to know God. It is how I was so perplexed about how the world came into being was confused and why we humans existed upon it.
As I traveled, each time I saw an amazing natural event I’d think: “this could not have all come about by chance.” I’d think, “I do believe God is behind all this. It is too beautiful otherwise. Too complex.”
Satan, created the most beautiful of all angels, perfect in beauty (Ezekiel 28:12, 17), likely could not get humans to dispense entirely with the planet’s beauty, so the environmental movement is about being utilitarian. We don’t say ‘save the environment because it is beautiful!’ we say ‘save the environment because we can get stuff out of it!’ The environment is just someplace we extract energy rather than experience beauty and perhaps, contemplate God. God shines in His glory in the heavens and in His whole creation and as far as satan is concerned, the less we see it as beautiful the less chance we will see of God in it.
Second, our lives are increasingly crowded. We are over-scheduled. Our mental life is increasingly devoid of meditation time, imagination, contemplation. Every moment is utilitarian. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to reflect on the wonders in nature I was seeing during my travels. If I was too busy commuting and working and scheduling every moment I never would have pondered the larger things. And never have eventually wondered about God in them. Satan diminishes the glory of God’s creation to a utilitarian product and crowds our lives with less time to contemplate it.
It is one of satan’s methods to combat Romans 1:20, squeeze out the beauty in the world. 2 Timothy 3:3 tells us that in the end times people will be brutal;… brutality isn’t beautiful, is it?
Beauty draws you. Combat satan. Consider beauty. God is there. Praise the Creator for His wondrous works!
We read in so many books aimed at Christians that there is a secret code in the Bible. That life has a secret code. That there’s like hacks based on a code (enneagram, anyone?). There are no secret codes in the Bible and the only life hacks that do exist in the Bible are either indicatives or imperatives. But did you know there IS a secret, recently discovered, code to the universe?
I remember vividly when it was discovered and the wider general public became aware. January 1983. I subscribed to Smithsonian Magazine, the magazine associated with Smithsonian Museum. The cover displayed a weirdly balloon-like object on the cover, even more weirdly named a “fractal.” Intrigued, I read the article. I read it again, and re-read it many more times over the years, keeping that edition long past its sell-by date.
I never quite understood what fractals were or why the mathematics world was so excited about them. I wished I understood it. I wanted to understand it. I sensed its importance. But the point escaped me.
I wasn’t saved then.
Now I am.
This week I found a Christian scientist teaching about fractals at the Answers in Genesis Conference. His name is Jason Lisle and here is his bio:
Dr. Jason Lisle is a Christian astrophysicist who researches issues pertaining to science and the Christian faith. Lisle earned a PhD in astrophysics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Dr. Lisle has worked at Answers in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research, and is the Founder of the Biblical Science Institute. (Source)
Now, why are fractals a code to the universe?
When we discover a mathematical truth we have discovered something about the way God thinks.
The original fractal, now called the Mandelbrot set, after its discoverer
The video below is a really understandable video of Dr. Lisle explaining fractals and why they are a code to the universe, a peek at God’s mind, AND a mind-blowing, awe-inspiring concept. In fact, in watching him explain it (he does it really well- you WILL understand it!) I actually teared up with joy at seeing this peek at something that is behind and supports God’s creation- the universe. I urge you, if you’re feeling down, if you want to glimpse our Holy God, if you are simply curious, or for any reason at all, to watch the video!
Here are some other creation beauties. I applaud, exalt, and praise our God for His incredible beauty. RC Sproul used to say that God is good, true, and beautiful. He’d often ask, “What happened to beauty?” I am fascinated by this question and I speak of it often. Here are a few mind-blowing examples of our Beautiful Creator!
God has made everything beautiful in its time; also, He has given human beings an awareness of eternity; but in such a way that they can’t fully comprehend, from beginning to end, the things God does (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
This isn’t CGI, it’s a real-life creature known as a sea angel (Clione limacina) found in the cold waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.
Did you know that Mercury is a planet AND a comet? Here’s NASA-
The black dot is Mercury! Photo from NASA
“Researchers have known for years that Mercury has a huge tail. Last week, Andrea Alessandrini photographed her from the balcony of his home in Veroli, Italy. … First preceded in the 1980s, Mercury’s tail was discovered in 2001. Its origin is Mercury’s super-thin atmosphere. Mercury is so close to the sun that the pressure of sunlight can push atoms out of the atmosphere into space. The escaping gas forms a tail more than 15 million miles long.“
We contemplate God in church when we worship, when we pray, when we read the Bible. But please take some time to contemplate Him as Creator.
Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Job 12:10 – In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Psalm 8:3-4 – When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalm 104:24-25 – Lord, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions. There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great.
Contemplate the beauty of His creation and His beauty itself.
Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church is full of superlatives. The ‘biggest’ church”? Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. The ‘best-selling’ Christian book in the world for years and years in a row? Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. ‘America’s pastor‘? Rick Warren.
Warren with his wife Kay, founded Saddleback Church in 1980 and held its first service on Easter Sunday with 200 in attendance. He has been its pastor ever since, but not for much longer. Warren announced his retirement, his successor, and his transition timing of stepping down in September of this year after a period of a few months’ transition in his megachurch.
Have you ever wondered how it works with God being totally sovereign over all things, plans, actions, and events…yet man is not a robot and freely chooses his own actions, and moreover, is responsible to God for them? You’re not the only one to wonder how that tension works between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.
Beth Moore left the Southern Baptist Convention last year, loudly and badly. She is an Anglican now, happy to be proclaiming prayers and Psalms from her home church pulpit. But she is still talking to us in the SBC about how to run things, what should happen, and having opinions all over the place about a denomination of which she is no longer a part.
I was reading through 1 Kings this morning. I came across a reference to the Millo, and made a quick note to follow that up later. Then I read of Ahijah the prophet, and made another note. Uh-oh! My ink ran out. Oh, no, this is my favorite pen! It’s hand made from beautiful wood and has super beautiful fittings. I must replace the ink cartridge right now even though I have another favorite pen right here!
I subscribe to Justin Peters Ministries because I like how Justin operates in truth and kindness, I like what he does (evangelism and his rebuttals against false doctrines like health/wealth or word-faith), and I like the encouraging things I read about what the Lord is doing through him.
His reports are uplifting. We need encouragement these days. I like Paul Washer’s mission updates, too. (HeartCry Missionary Society). We can get so caught up in our own spheres we might overlook the grace that is bestowed elsewhere.
I found a new website I enjoy, “Beauty of Planet Earth“. There are all sorts of interesting articles about our home planet, and other planets. Lots of gorgeous pictures, facts about a wide range of subjects, architecture, and more. Like this article: “Priceless Art Found In Paris Apartment Vacant Since 1939.” The only thing that drives me crazy are the ‘science facts’ stating this or that animal died 44,000 years ago, or global warming.
the-end-time.org 