Devo 7
10/13/99
"Through Him, all things were made..."
There are two times of the year that I particularly like: spring and fall. That's not to say that the other two are boring, I just happen to prefer these two. The reason is that I love seeing all the colors on the trees. In spring, the trees are blooming to life in a dazzling display of pinks and whites and greens. In the fall, though the colors are different, the displays are no less amazing. As I was driving around Lincoln the other day I began thinking about the differences between the spring and fall, and like I good Timberlake cabin leader, I started noticing some teachable moments (or transferable concepts, as I've heard it called). It is actually something that I'm willing to bet you've all heard before. Compare the seasons of the year to the 'seasons' of life; make spring the youth, summer the middle age, fall the old age, and winter the death. As children we are invincible and full of life, there is simply not enough time in the day to do everything we want to do. Our minds are fresh and innocent, not having yet learned to mistrust the world. Our colors are bright and vibrant, just like the colors on the trees in spring. As we progress into our middle age, some of our youthful innocence is lost as well as some of our bright colors--some. Moving into the 'fall' of our lives, the colors come out again, but not the bright and vibrant colors of our youth. These colors are more 'mature', softer, warmer, the shading more subtle. It's like the wise grandparent looking back over their many years--a lot wiser, but no less full of life. Ok, so that wasn't exactly a 'Christian' analogy, but those aren't too hard to find (just look at the transition from winter to spring!) The point I'm driving at is that nature is full of analogies for human life and experience. King Solomon, in the book of Proverbs, encourages his readers to take an example from the ants and their preparation for the future. But nature doesn't just show us good standards of conduct, it also reveals to us the nature of God.
One of Jesus' best known analogies of the Christian life is found in John 15 where He says, "I am the vine, you are the branches." If a branch stays with the vine, then it will produce fruit (see Gal. 5:22,23 for more on fruit!), if it doesn't, then the branch will wither and die.
Looking at the universe, one can also see God's hand at work. Whether you believe the Big Bang theory or not, many prominent scientists cannot escape the fact that somehow, at sometime, this universe was created by something that exists apart from our universe. Even looking at the laws which govern the universe we can see evidence of purposeful design. You've all heard that should the orbit of the earth be altered even slightly, life would not be possible. Through looking at the heavens we can see that God has specially designed a place where it is possible for us to live.
One final example (though there are many more) is in the human act of marriage. In the Bible, Jesus' return is often described as a Groom returning for his Bride, the body of believers. As we all know, marriages need to be based on mutual love for each other. I'm not talking about the mushy, touchy-feely kind of love you see in the world day in and day out. I'm talking about Biblical love: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (I John 4:10) Biblical love is sacrificial love, putting the needs of others before your own needs. As the verse indicates, this is how God loves us. Romans 5:8 says "God demonstrates His love for us in this: that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God loved us so much He died for us. But love is never a solo affair, it requires two. Just as a man vows to love his wife, so also does the woman vow to love the man, and if either of these two breaks these vows, trouble is sure to follow. In the same way, God's love for us requires a similar love for God. He loved us enough to die for us, do we love him enough to do the same?
I'm sure you can think of several more examples of things in nature pointing to God and what He's done for us--and I don't think this is just coincidence either. Any good artist, whether painter, writer, architect etc. has what is known as a 'voice'. That is, something that is distinctive about the artwork that points to the artist. It was no different with the Master Artist Himself when he created His masterpiece.