And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever …The heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. (Isaiah 32:17; Psalms 19:1-4)
If you are a nature lover like I am, beautiful meadows, majestic hills, thunderous or still waters and other breath-taking scenery help to fuel your fire and make you tick. There is something about picturesque landscapes and spectacular imagery that draw out the best in you and trigger the copious flow of creative juices. The wonders of nature are irrefutable pointers to the glories and magnificence of their Creator; nothing less than a mind-boggling Being of astounding proportions and unimaginable intelligence, excellence, and preeminence could have culled the superior elegance and dazzling artistry the master craftsmanship of creation flagrantly displays. Nature’s brilliance and splendiferous hues are undoubtedly incomparable, but its Creator, more infinitely indescribable, and His incandescence, incontestably indefinable.
As a passionate, unapologetic and unashamed lover of God and His Son Jesus Christ, I am constantly blown away by His handiwork’s evocative beauty, but even more so by each discovery of the limitless attributes and characteristics of His person. Two of His most endearing traits are His tremendous cogency and simplicity. God is mind-boggling but simple, unimaginable, but accessible. He dwells in unapproachable light1 but is a wholly approachable Being2. He is ingenuous in motive but ingenious in motivation and creation. He is masterfully uncontrived, but a master at ground-breaking contrivances. He is fearsome to behold yet invites a fearless, love-motivated relationship3. For such a magnificent, incontrovertible Being of inconceivable complexity, majesty, beauty, glory, honor, transcendency and dignity, I find His unpretentiousness strikingly refreshing, and the ingenuousness and unambiguity of His persona purely staggering. As paradoxical and repetitive as all that may sound, there is simply no other way to capture the piercing guilelessness of the Person Who encapsulates all that is revealed as God, alongside the unquestionable integrity of His character.
We see this straightforwardness and unpretentiousness in all He does. James describes Him as the Father of Lights Who is constant and unchangeable, unlike shifting shadows.4 Paul highlights the fact that His yes means yes, and His no means no. He does not say “yes” today and change it to a “no” tomorrow; He does not make great promises today and back out of them with lame excuses tomorrow.5 What you see is what you get with Him, He doesn’t speak out of both sides of His mouth or present Himself in one way and then act another.6 We see this forthrightness very poignantly presented in the nineteenth Psalm where the Bible describes the sun’s daily activities as it relates to creation’s agenda.
Fun Facts About the Sun & Its Daily Orbital Run!
.. the sun … rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. (Psalms 19:4b, 5b-6)
We can glean a lot of simple truths from the entirety of this psalm and the roundedness (pardon the pun!) of the sun. The latter is the sole star in the earth’s solar system and forms the centrality of its existence; everything (literally) revolves around it!7 Each time I study this portion of Scripture, a few things are increasingly glaring (again, pardon the intended pun!), even though they are so basic …
- The sun knows exactly who it is, what it was created to do and how it was created to exert its influence.
- It does not attempt to be or do anything outside of what it was created to do.
- By simply focusing on and performing its daily assignment, it achieves its intended purpose and destiny – one day (and sometimes one person) at a time.
- By virtue of its placement by God in the firmament and the fact that it remains in position, it effects all it was intended to do and affects all it was intended to impact. This is the sole reason it fully executes its global impact mandate and capabilities.
- We have repeatedly discussed (in prior posts) the import of God’s sun-simulating mandate to all lovers and followers of Jesus.8 The unwavering focus and undeterred resoluteness the sun displays in carrying out its duties become particularly striking with this similitude in mind.
In a nutshell, all the sun does (in simplistic terms) is to:
a. Do what it was created to do i.e., it rises and sets each day from each places it was set and positioned to (the east and west respectively). So simple, yet so profound (please refer back to our opening section on the simplicity, cogency and unambiguity of God …)
b. Emit radiant light and energy from that set position. It is a seemingly static “magic in motion” …
b. Stay its course i.e. runs its daily circuit (around the galaxy, while everything in its solar system runs the gamut around it).
By doing what it was naturally called to without veering off on extrasolar or other extraterrestrial pursuits, (i.e. refraining from special theatrics, intrigues, or attempts at mimicking the moon or other elements), and by staying its course, it naturally radiates the light and energy necessary for the sustenance of the solar system, and all else that is necessary to make the world go round (literally). It exerts global impact as a byproduct of remaining in its global positioning system’s orbit. This is the essence and end (goal) of every person’s existence (assuming they are first empowered and positioned by developing a love and allegiance to Jesus Christ). This is the simplicity of life as God masterminded it, reducing all complexities and controversies to their lowest common denominator in God’s intelligent design.
From Good to Great … to God-like …
In His bestselling book “Good to Great,” author, corporate guru, and consultant Jim Collins sheds valuable light on study results relating to the reason some good companies eventually fail or remain static and stagnant for the duration of their existence, while others reject the comforts and quagmire of being good to make the uncomfortable leap to becoming great.
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)
I love the concepts Jim shares in His book, given the fact that God’s description of everything He made was in its original format (i.e. as originally intended) “very good.” Having inspected and being thoroughly satisfied with His excellent handiwork, He delegated its management and ongoing development to His choice designee. Earth’s raw material and all that was in it was handed over to His regional manager (mankind) to manage, bestowing upon him the mandate and ability to replicate, appreciate, subjugate, dominate and innovate in perpetual cycles of advancing process and product improvement.9 The end result was to be a grand simulation of the headquarters (heaven), with earth mimicking heaven’s operations to the fullest extent possible. This ongoing innovation and eventual presentation presumably builds upon the fundamentals that God gave to ensure “very good” graduates to “great,” “very great,” “exceedingly great,” “incredible,” etc; the gradient of possibilities on this side of heaven being endless. This is exactly in line with the presuppositions of Jim’s overarching proposition regarding business enterprises. God intended that we utilize the springboard of His good and basic creation to be catapulted into progressive levels of greatness in His business enterprise called creation.
From Cacophony to Confusion … to Catastrophe …
While mankind has mastered the aforementioned progressive advancement on the innovation and development side of things, it seems to have embraced the exact opposite in the human behavioral end. Human behavior appears to have regressed quite alarmingly, and at a rate negatively commensurate to the progression of innovation and technology. The two seem to have evolved in an inversely proportionate manner to one another; rather unfortunately, but true, nonetheless.
The things we expose or surround ourselves with will ultimately affect our mindsets and wellbeing, knowingly or unknowingly. What a person constantly sees is just as impactful as what they constantly hear and are surrounded by. This has been clearly proven in the criminal justice and psychology domains, and are applicable to other arenas as well. Can you imagine if the sun woke up one day and heard certain elements of the cosmos saying that it was such a shame that he was stuck up there in the heavens, so far away from all the fun of the earth, and that he really should have been a chandelier or lamp adorning a nice palace or home? What if the sun didn’t know his source and upon hearing those whispers, became unsettled and ponderous of those negative comments? What if such pondering and the feelings of doubt and irrelevance they elicited caused him to begin to doubt his role and purpose? What if the ongoing projections eventually got to him, and one day, he woke up feeling like he was a clock? All of a sudden, he began to have urges within him to tik and to tok, and eventually, he began to suppress urges to chime out loud, even sometimes sounds as loud as the London clocks loud “bong!” What if he took it a step further, and finally decided he was no longer the sun, created to provide light, energy, and heat to all the inhabitants of the earth, but was now a clock – because he felt like it and had all these urges to chime? What if he took it a step further, and finally decided to stop his daily circuit, dropped from the sky, shut off his solar power, and shrunk himself to the size of a wall clock to be able to fit into the earth and the expectations of those who said he was a clock? What short and longer term catastrophic consequences can you imagine would ensue?
Folks, as incredulous as this may sound, and as unthinkable the consequences, this scenario is being repeated thousands of times daily when people created in the likeness and image of God (referred to as sons of God in the Bible) listen to negative and confounding suggestions of the cosmos around them which insist that they are other than what they were created to be. When you don’t know who you are, you will succumb to intimations of what you are not. When there are little to no boundaries in the quality of influences around you, you will fall for every assailing voice. Entertaining these voices long enough produce feelings, thoughts, and projections consistent with what you have heard (a universal law of existence is that you become what you hang around, listen to or otherwise entertain), and such people will eventually succumb to these projections and begin to act like what they have come to believe. When sons of God do not know who they are to begin with, because they’ve never connected to their Maker to find out, or otherwise lose their identity to the voice of popular opinion, they succumb to voices who had no part in creating them and therefore lack the right or capability to unerringly tell them who they are. They become caricatures of themselves as they succumb to a life which was not originally theirs and which will undoubtedly end in great defeat and regret.
Anytime a person decides they are something other than what God created them to be, they become diametrically opposed to God’s glorious plan for their lives, and become disconnected from their purpose in creation’s grand scheme, promote anarchy and confusion. Anarchy, lawlessness and mass confusion ensue when people lack an accurate sense of source and self (identity). In today’s world where moral lines have acquired the proverbial fifty shades of grey, it has become quite trendy to call good evil and evil good.10 Some even go as far as challenging the concept of God’s right of sovereign authority over human lives, and His audacity in instituting moral standards.11 I find this as ludicrous as a piece of art challenging or reprimanding its artist for creating it within the confines of its picture frame or mural. Who does that??
Stark Truths About The Sons That Ensure A Job Well Done!
For creation eagerly waits with unbridled anticipation for God’s children to be revealed. … For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (Romans 8:19, 22)
Every lover of God who has an active, personal relationship with Jesus Christ is termed a son of God12, irrespective of his or her gender.13 Sonship is the exclusive preserve of those with a sworn allegiance to Jesus (by inviting Him to be their boss and thus deferring to His precepts, principles and policies). All of such people are His designated representatives on the earth, to the end that its inhabitants are impacted by His love, interventions, and innovation demonstrated through them, as well as their radical effect on the elements of creation. Paul informed us of this stark reality in his missive to the Roman church, where he revealed the fact that all creation was waiting for the lovers of Jesus to take their place as effective representatives on earth. We were created to be life and nature preservers, such that countless calamitous and unfortunate experiences undergone by many would be averted. More importantly, such individuals are to be rescuers from earthly disasters, as well as from the spiritual tragedy of eternal separation from God! They are to be the primary earth managers and innovators that take earth’s raw material from “good” to “God-like” … by the superior wisdom they acquire and display from God, thereby cataclysmically advancing and astounding their world!
When people of any nation, ethnicity, religion, creed, gender, etc. fail to understand or respond to Jesus’s invitation14 to connect with Him, their true life Source15, they miss out on the very essence of their existence, and the opportunity of their lifetime, literally. Almost as tragic, many lovers of Jesus fail to realize the critical role they play in creation’s plan, and the fact that they are God’s representatives here on earth. With that call comes a heavy responsibility that is too significant to be trifled with. ALL of creation is waiting for these special people to identify themselves by radiating supernatural light and energy to those around them and by staying their course (on the Milky Way of God’s presence, plans and purpose). When such sons are too busy or distracted by life’s trivial pursuits, creation gets antsy and begins to groan in the agony of unfulfilled expectations. This may be one reason why the earth seems to be experiencing more natural disasters than ever before. Although these phenomena are predicted by both Bible prophecy and scientific elucidation, the frequency and gravity of their occurrences may be an outcry of desperation. Similarly, the retrograde progression of humanity’s behavioral depravity may be a desperate signal to God’s sons of their need to rise up to take their place and be the emblems of hope and rescue they were created to be.
Isaiah states this all most compellingly:
“Rise up in splendor and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and YAHWEH’s glory now streams from you! Look carefully! Darkness blankets the earth, and thick clouds cover the nations, but YAHWEH arises upon you and the brightness of his glory appears over you! Nations will be attracted to your radiant light and kings to the sunrise-glory of your new day.”16
Friend, are you cognizant of the fact that you have an open invitation from Jesus to connect to your original life Source, enjoy Him, and become all He created you to be, irrespective of your gender, race, religion, background, etc.? If you have, are you living up to the standard and potential you were created for – as a son of God? Can you say with the same unwavering conviction and sense of urgency Jesus, the first Sun17 and Son of God did?18 …
“See, I am here to do what is written about Me in the Scriptures, I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within My heart … As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. … I must work the works of Him Who sent Me and be busy with His business while it is daylight; night is coming, when no man can work.“19
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THE JESUS-CONNECTED & EMPOWERED YOU … ARE THE SOLUTION TO COSMIC CHAOS!
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For Your Sonship-Displaying & Listening Pleasure
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwigoJUkpNjXz6wzEW4ETayIR5mVwcjZc&si=MYLcGvnBkmsRXHwx
Bibliography
- 1 Timothy 6:16 ↩︎
- Genesis 3:8-9; Genesis 18:1-8; Jeremiah 31:3 ↩︎
- 1 John 3:1; 1 John 4:18 ↩︎
- James 1:17 ↩︎
- 2 Corinthians 1:17-20 ↩︎ ↩︎
- Matthew 5:37; James 5:12 ↩︎
- Our Sun: Facts; retrieved from: https://science.nasa.gov/sun/facts/ ↩︎
- Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Peter 2:9; Isaiah 60:1-3; Philippians 2:14-15; Ephesians 2:10; etc. ↩︎
- Genesis 1:28 ↩︎
- Isaiah 5:20; Proverbs 17:5 ↩︎
- Isaiah 45:9-10; Romans 9:20-21 ↩︎
- Galatians 3:26, 1 John 3:1-2; John 1:12-13; 2 Corinthians 6:18 ↩︎
- Galatians 3:28; Genesis 1:27 ↩︎
- Matthew 11:28-29, John 7:37-38 ↩︎
- John 6:35; John 6:47-51; John 4:13-14; Isaiah 55:1-3; 6-7 ↩︎
- Isaiah 60:1-3 ↩︎
- Malachi 4:2; Colossians 1:17, Proverbs 8:22-30 ↩︎
- Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:10-17 ↩︎
- Psalms 40:7-8/; Hebrews 10:7-9; John 9:5; John 9:4 ↩︎