Winter time can be a time of thought and contemplation. We reflect on the past and look forward to the future. We plan and dream for the days to come. I wanted to take a moment and explore our origins. How exactly did we arrive at this moment in time? Greeting in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Do we have your testimony at our fingertips? We would do well to have thought it through. It is a useful tool as we reflect on where we have come from. Our Testimony; where we were, how we met Jesus and where our lives have gone since that encounter. Like taking something apart and putting it back together, our testimony is how God works.
Have you ever wondered how and why things work like they do? Why does anything work the way it does? By design. Things are designed and built for a certain function. Man is capable of creating some amazing machines. The more we discover the more we can improve and refine. But with all our technology and expertise we haven’t been able to duplicate what God created in us.
Genesis 2:7; NLT; Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
We were created by God as the crowning achievement of His creation. From man He created woman and the two are connected, complementary and designed to be one. He placed us in the Garden to have fellowship with Him.
Genesis 2:18; NLT; 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
Genesis 2:21-24; NLT; So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
“At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
The life we live is full of so many decisions, questions and choices it can be hard to determine which direction is right. We use many different sources of information, but how do we know what source will lead us to what is right? We have all been on the receiving end of false information. The world we live in seems to have made it the norm, disinformation. It can be a challenge to know who’s right and who is trying to manipulate us.
There are some common threads in decision making. In all the decision making we do, we rely on three sources for input; things we have been taught, things we have experienced and things we understand. There is another source but it isn’t sought out as much, God and His Word.
Let’s take a minute and explore the process of decision making. We all have our favorite sources of authority. When I have a house question I call my friend the builder. When I have a car question, I stop by and see my friend who runs a garage. When I need legal advice I call my lawyer. Pretty simple, we all have similar ways of getting to a solution we trust.
What about life questions? Where do we go when we have questions about life and how to live it? Some of us go to the same sources mentioned above, but let me suggest another, better source, the creator of life himself, God. Who should know more about how to live the most fulfilling, satisfying and best life than the creator of life himself?
Jesus said it himself;
John 10:10; NLT; The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
This verse brings into focus and gives us some insight that we can apply to our decision making process, There are two motives, only two. One is to tear down and one is to build up. Think about those who you have solicited advice from. Some people want what is best for you and genuinely try to give you good advice. Other’s motives come into question.
God’s motive is to give us a rich and satisfying life. One translation of this passage says, abundant and overflowing. Our decision is who are we going to listen to? Might I suggest the creator of life might have an idea what is best for us and know what will provide a rich and satisfying life.
God said to the prophet Jeremiah;
Jeremiah 1:5; “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
Many of the sources we use to answer our questions and solve our problems we turn to because they are “experts”, they know things that we don’t. They understand things that we don’t. They have experiences that we haven’t had. All good reasons to seek them out for answers, but allow me to give this advice, God is the only true source of authority.
Psalm 139 explains that God knows everything about us, in fact, He knitted us together in our mother’s womb. Take some time this week and look up Psalm 139, read it and come to understand that God knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. Who better to turn to then when we need guidance and direction?
Psalm 139:1-6, just the first part, there are 24 verses in God’s word.
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
We begin the new year looking to make improvements, hoping for a better outcome. We look forward, hoping that the lessons we learned will help us not make the same mistakes we did in the past. Maybe we need to go to a new source for the answer. By design, God is that source.
Blessings,
Pastor Don