WHAT'S YOUR FOCUS?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers. Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken. They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”

But my eyes are fixed on You, Sovereign Lord; in You I take refuge — do not give me over to death. Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers, from the snares they have laid for me. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.

Psalm 141:5b-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What is your focus in life? What gets your greatest attention?

Is it your work? Is it your family? Is it some hobby or personal interest? Is it yourself?

There is any number of things we could find ourselves fixed upon. The world offers a buffet table full of options but none of them can offer us what the Lord can offer us, the One who makes us His main focus.

David was a man after God’s own heart and we can learn a lot from his life, good and bad. That’s what makes David a great case study for the human existence. He ended up in the lineage and heritage of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and yet he was a sinner just like you and me. As we will see in this psalm, David had his focus on the Lord but we remember as well that there was a time in his life when he lost that focus with devastating results.

This should serve as a warning to us. We can’t lose our focus on the Lord.

Going to our passage in the 141st Psalm, we find David proclaiming boldly:

“My eyes are fixed on You, Sovereign Lord; in You I take refuge.”

David knew where his source of strength and protection existed. No one could help him like the Lord. The 121st Psalm put it like this:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip — He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you — the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm — He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

The focus here is solely on the Lord, the Helper, Watcher, Protector, and Lover of all mankind. This Lord Almighty was the Lord David had his eyes fixed upon and no matter what our circumstances might be in life, He is the Lord we need to be fixed upon as well.

The scriptures have more to say on the matter of focusing on the Lord. Consider these verses:

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” By faith, we keep our focus on the Lord. We can’t see Him but we know and trust that He is there, ever with us, ever assisting us, ever guiding us, ever caring for us.

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1b-2a

When I was in the Navy, I had one of my Commanding Officers tell me once that my tour was a marathon and not a sprint. I was working very long hours early on in a one year assignment and he was sharing some wisdom from what he had learned while there. His point was that we need to be careful that we don’t focus too much on the wrong things. In this case, I was focusing way too much on work and losing a grip on taking care of myself a little, like making time for my physical and spiritual well being.

Life itself is much like this. It’s not a sprint but a marathon, a really long marathon in most cases. We will need lots of perseverance and lots of help to make it to the finish line. Paul shares with the Hebrews that we can make it by keeping our focus on Jesus who ran the only perfect race in life, the only life fully fixed on the Father and fulfilling His will and way. It’s little wonder that Jesus tells us that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) and expects for us to follow His lead.

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God — soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God. Psalm 42:5 The Message

I don’t often us The Message translation of the scriptures but couldn’t pass up this version of Psalm 42:5 for it captures what we gain every time we place our focus on the Lord.

There’s a true joy that comes in fixing our eyes on God the Father and His Son Jesus. We’re reminded, no matter our life situation, that we are loved and cared for, already victorious through the salvation promise given to all who place their belief, faith, and hope in Christ.

In the late 1800’s, Lillias Trotter understood the joy that comes when we focus on the Lord and she shared it through her writings, particularly in a tract simply titled “Focused.” A Christian missionary who ministered to Muslims in Algeria for 38 years, Trotter penned the following words which had an impact on many to include Helen Lemmel who read the tract in the early 1900’s. Trotter wrote:

“Turn full your soul's vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.”

Helen Lemmel was so inspired by Trotter’s words that she wrote a song in 1922 that has been sung in churches even up to present day. Perhaps you have sung this chorus once or twice:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Friends, the scriptures, a tract written by a Christian missionary, and a song inspired by a tract all ask us the same question: Where is your focus? Is it on the things of the world or is it on the One who provides life and light and love and glory and mercy and grace?

In the end translation, nothing in the world compares to Jesus because nothing in the world can save and offer eternity as He does.

Today and every day, turn your eyes upon Him and give Him thanks for that.

Amen.

PS: You can read the full transcript of the tract Focused here: Focused

PS 2: You can listen to the song Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus here: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

In Christ,

Mark

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EMBRACE RIGHTEOUS CORRECTION

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I call to You, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to You. May my prayer be set before You like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat their delicacies.

Let a righteous man strike me — that is a kindness; let him rebuke me — that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.

Psalm 141:1-5a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I don’t know about you but I have found it’s far easier to receive praise than it is criticism.

Maybe it’s because of our innate need to be loved, approved, and accepted. Maybe it’s because of our pride that doesn’t allow us to accept correction. Maybe it’s a little of both.

All I know is that censure is a bitter pill to swallow most of the time.

Now, through many years of experience, I have learned to gauge criticism by its merit. I say this because sometimes people criticize for the sake of being critical. They choose to constantly find wrong in others and tell them about where they’re falling short, whether in work or in life. These kinds of people can really beat a person down to the place where their self esteem becomes seriously damaged, often leading to the person feeling they are inadequate.

This person is different from the kind of person David speaks about in the opening verses of the 141st Psalm as he writes these words:

Let a righteous man strike me — that is a kindness; let him rebuke me — that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.

David here is espousing a unique attitude about correction. He is embracing it, comparing being striked as kindness, rebuking as oil on his head. Yes, David accepted criticism but note who is bringing it to him. It is someone who is righteous.

Friends, we need to receive this word of God with thanksgiving and learn from the wisdom it brings us. For as we consider this matter of embracing correction, let us embrace it if it is righteous in nature for righteous correction is of God and His word and way.

David asked the Lord to watch him and observe his actions. He asked that a door be placed over his mouth so that his spoken words would be appropriate. He asked the Lord to keep his heart from evil temptations because he knew his actions would follow his heart. Evil in would mean evil out and trust me when I tell you that any man or woman has as much potential within them to be evil as they do good. We, like David, should be invoking the Lord’s help in guiding us righteously. That’s our first big step toward becoming the people the Lord intends for us to be.

The second step is to embrace correction when it comes righteously or rightly. How do we know when we have received right counsel and reproof? When it is in line with what God’s word says.

I say this because God’s word is the gold standard for living life. There is no higher requirement from which we can measure ourselves. If we are living fully in accordance with God’s word, in a way that is pleasing in His sight, then that’s what really matters. And if the criticism we receive is in line with the conviction we would receive from the word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, then we need to embrace it and give thanks for it. It’s only intended to make us to be more like the person we should be, the person the Lord wants us to be.

This is why David saw correction as something positive. He was a man after God’s own heart and wanted to live his life in a way that honored and glorified Him. We would be well suited to follow his lead and learn to embrace righteous correction in our own lives. We really have nothing to lose in doing so and everything to gain.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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GOD'S TIMELY WORD

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet. The arrogant have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path.

I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy. Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, You shield my head in the day of battle. Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord; do not let their plans succeed.

Those who surround me proudly rear their heads; may the mischief of their lips engulf them. May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise. May slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down the violent.

I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence.

Psalm 140

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Last week was one that will be not be forgotten anytime soon in the city of Boston or anywhere else for that matter. An act of unspeakable evil took the lives of three people and critically injured countless others when improvised bombs placed in pressure cookers were detonated near crowds of people near the Boston Marathon finish line. And as the manhunt ensued, a MIT police officer was gunned down by the two terror suspects while sitting in his squad car and another Boston transit officer was critically wounded during an exchange of gunfire with the terrorists. When it all ended during a tense day Friday, one of the terrorists was dead and the other apprehended. Finally, the people of Boston could rest easy and try and return to some sense of normal following an experience that is hard to make sense of.

In times like this, I think we all want to receive something that helps us deal with the evil that we have witnessed as being alive and well in our world. Thanks be to God that He always provides us a timely word in these circumstances.

One such word is in the 140th Psalm. Look at these words from King David, one who was dealing with evil doings himself:

Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet. The arrogant have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path.

I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy. Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, You shield my head in the day of battle. Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord; do not let their plans succeed.

Those who surround me proudly rear their heads; may the mischief of their lips engulf them. May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise. May slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down the violent.

I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence.

Consider the following key points in this timely word of God as we consider the evil that has happened and ponder any evil that will be propagated in the future:

1. We need to pray to God for rescue from evildoers.

“Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day.”

Most of the time, we are reactive in situations involving evil. We pray after evil acts occur. We should instead be proactive as David was. He asked God upfront to rescue Him from those who would devise evil plans. We should do likewise, knowing that God listens to and answers prayers.

2. We should hold God as our sole source of safety in life.

“Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent.”

Who is more powerful and able than God? It seems like a no brainer and yet we seem to want to place our security reliance in other places like alarm systems and security guards and even bodyguards in some instances. None of them can do for us what God can do. For no matter what worldly safety processes you seek to institute, there are going to be countless times when you are outside of the care they can provide you. Only God is with you always and only God has a true heart for you that loves you dearly. See Him as your Great Protector today and always.

3. We should be praying against those who would consider doing evil.

“Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord; do not let their plans succeed.”

Just as we don’t pray proactively for God’s rescue from evil, we don’t pray against the evildoers and their wicked schemes. How many of us were praying against terrorism in our nation before Boston? Probably as many as there were praying before September 11th, 2001 or any other major terror attack we have witnessed in our lifetimes.

Friends, we need to be praying against the evil scheming happening in our world today and we need to do so confident that God can and will thwart the efforts of those who would want to do us harm.

4. We need to understand that judgment will fall on the evil doer.

May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise. May slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down the violent.

We have seen it over and over again in the scriptures. God doesn’t allow evil to go unpunished and He is perfectly fair and just in the judgments He dispenses. No one really gets away with things, no matter how we might think so from a worldly perspective. God hates sin and despises sinful behavior. Rest assured that a form of discipline will always come from the Father in response to the evil sins committed here on earth.

5. We need to know that justice will prevail.

“I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence.”

The Boston Marathon terror attack is over but God has not yet finished meting out His justice. His judgment still is a work in progress but we need to see how He already has moved powerfully to bring two evil men to justice. Think about how things progressed last week and how we went from not knowing who might have done the act, to having pictures of the two terrorists, to finding out where they were, and then engaging them, killing one and arresting the other. All within a matter of days.

Now it would be easy to heap all our accolades on the FBI and other law enforcement officials who worked tirelessly to try and solve the case but leave God out of the equation and you’re eliminating the One who led the men and women to success. Not that we shouldn’t be grateful to those who played key roles in finding the terrorists and getting them off the streets but we would be completely remiss in not seeing that they were all instruments of the Lord’s judgment.

We should be praising God first and then those He used in that order. I’m not sure that happened enough in the wake of the Boston terror event.

Friends, as we deal with the aftermath of this horrific attack, let us turn our attention to God and His timely word as found in the Holy Bible. For with His words and a strong, dedicated prayer life, we can go on and live in bold confidence, knowing and trusting that He is always with us, guiding, protecting, saving, and loving us, despite the evil that exists in the world.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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FOUR STEPS TO THE WAY EVERLASTING

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of You with evil intent; Your adversaries misuse Your name. Do I not hate those who hate You, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against You? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:19-24

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As followers of the Lord Most High and receivers of His salvation promise as provided through His Son Jesus Christ, we are called to be obedient to a litany of commands and expectations intended to lead us to behave in a way that pleases and honors the One who fashioned us with His hands, ordained every day of our life, and shares His very thoughts through the power of the Holy Spirit abiding within us.

How do we know we’re conforming to the standards God has set?

David gives us a four step approach to accountability in the final verses of the 139th Psalm. Look at these words:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Step 1: Ask God to search you and know your heart.

The first step in dealing with any problem is acknowledging that you have a problem to start with. When we ask God to search us and know our hearts, we are willingly asking for Him to help expose the sins we know are in us, much like an anti-virus searches a computer to root out and eliminate anything that might be lurking to damage and destroy it. We are all sinners and none of us can deal with our sin problem without the Lord’s help.

When was the last time you asked God to search and know your heart?

Step 2: Ask God to test you and know your anxious thoughts.

Sin is an issue. So is not trusting God when we should. When we get anxious over something, we are essentially stepping away from our faith in the God who can do all things. David asked God to test him and root out any anxious thoughts. We need to do likewise.

Step 3: Ask God to see if there are any offensive ways in you.

When we ask God to search our hearts and test us, we should want Him to find anything that He finds offensive and then help us eliminate it. We can’t serve sin and God at the same time. It doesn’t work that way. There is only room for faithfulness to God and so we need to get rid of anything that disrupts our relationship with Him. This step needs to happen before we can hope to get to step 4.

Step 4: Ask God to lead you in the way everlasting.

After God searches and tests our hearts, rooting out our offensive ways, then and only then are we ready to be led in the way everlasting, the way of righteousness and holiness. The first step toward finding and following this way is placing all your hope and trust in Jesus Christ, the One who is the way and the truth and the life, the only One who can bring us salvation and get us to God the Father forever. Repent and turn from sin and unbelief, place your faith in Jesus and become a Christian, and you will be well on your way to walk the narrow path the Lord expects for your to travel upon.

Friends, my prayer is that you are currently walking in the way everlasting. If not, thanks be to God for the words of David and the four steps he provided to help us get on the right path.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with You.

Psalm 139:17-18

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have been around a lot of people through my life who were obsessed with studying great thinkers, past and present. I specifically remember starting my quest for a Bachelor’s degree as a philosophy major where we pored over the writings of Socrates, Locke, Descartes, Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, and Aristotle. I made it through about four classes before deciding that I wasn’t cut out for philosophy as a major.

Why?

Because I never found anyone, no matter how greatly renowned, who could compete with the greatest thinker of all, none other than the Lord God Almighty.

As we look again at the 139th Psalm, we find David equally enthralled with the thoughts of God. Look at his words again:

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with You.

David clearly saw the amazing value of God’s thoughts. They were precious to him and he found himself awestruck by the absolute immensity of the Lord’s views, views that outnumbered the grains of sand. Think about that and be amazed like David.

Indeed, David was overwhelmed by the significance of God’s thoughts. He wasn’t alone. Look at these words from the prophet Amos:

He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals His thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord God Almighty is His name. Amos 4:13

Our Creator God who formed the mountains and wind, the God who turns dawn to darkness and reigns over all from the heavens, this God also created thought. The fact of the matter is that no philosopher could conjure a single thought had not God first given them the gift to think in the first place.

It’s definitely food for thought, don’t you think?

Here’s one more thing to digest: God shares His thoughts with us. It happens to me every day.

As I often say to people when we discuss “The Christian Walk”, every day I sit down to a blank Word document with just a scripture passage. It’s then that God begins to share His thoughts with me and then I type them out and share them with my readers.  

How does He share His thoughts?

Look at this passage from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth:

In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 1 Corinthians 2:11b-12

It’s clear here how God shares His precious thoughts with us. Paul explains that no one can know the thoughts of God except His Holy Spirit who He has sent to instruct us and guide us by revealing the very thoughts of God.

Friends, we are blessed by God in so many special ways but maybe not many are more special than the blessings of knowing the thoughts of God. It’s a blessing we should always be hungry for, knowing we will be fed. After all, Jesus promised this when He said:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Matthew 5:6

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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OUR ORDAINED LIVES

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:1-2

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

These words from David echo in my mind as I ponder the unfathomable greatness of God.

Earlier in the Psalm, God’s word speaks about us being known by God in every way. There is no place where we are free from His presence and watchful eye.

We are also reminded that the Lord made us wonderfully, masterfully and perfectly stitching every fiber of our being together when we were conceived and developed in the womb.

Our Lord God Almighty is simply amazing and extraordinary. We need these reminders from the scriptures to remained focused on these truths.

So today, we find out one more incredible fact about God as He applies to our lives. For as with David and other people in the scriptures that we’ll look at in a minute, the days of our lives were ordained by the Lord before any of them came to be.

In other words, the Lord not only has in mind every birth before they happen but He has a set blueprint for every life before it begins. Consider these passages:

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  Jeremiah 1:4-5

The prophet Jeremiah was told by the Lord that he had been ordained to be a prophet. His life had been mapped out well before he was born and God’s plan played out over his life as we read in the book that bears his name.

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. Galatians 1:13-16

The apostle Paul, like Jeremiah, knew he was set apart by God for the purpose of spreading and suffering for the cause of the Gospel, instituting the Christian church in its infancy to many part of the world during his missionary journeys. As we look at his amazing life, we should be fascinated looking at the blueprint that God used to bring Paul to and through his appointed purpose in Christ Jesus.

When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:12-14

With the Jews facing annihilation in Persia, the devout Jew Mordecai reminds his beloved Esther that the experiences she went through to become queen were not by accident but rather a part of God’s plan to save his people. God had placed her in position to make a difference at the prescribed time or as Mordecai put it, “for such a time as this.” We should remember Esther and her experience with the Lord as we go forth in our ordained lives. For you never know what special purpose God might be calling you for and we need to be ready to trust Him and allow Him to work His good in and through us when the time comes, just as Esther did.

“Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb He has spoken my name.” Isaiah 49:1

These are the prophetic words of Jesus as spoken through the prophet Isaiah. Perhaps there is no greater example than Jesus when we look at how the Lord maps out and ordains our lives toward His purpose and plan. Our Savior was indeed conceived in a supernatural way as the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary with Him and gave Him the name above all names, the name of Jesus, before He was even born. After that, we read about Jesus’ life in the gospels and have to marvel at the complexity of what God used Him for as His plan was played out to its fullest measure. In Jesus, we see the perfect example of an ordained life played out through a man who was perfect in every way to include perfectly obedient.

The result was the gift of salvation and triumph over sin and the grave being available for all mankind.

Now that’s an ordained purpose!

My dear brothers and sisters, have you considered what the Lord has ordained you for? Have you prayed for and sought His special purpose for life?

For no one is here by accident or happenstance but rather for a special divine reason. The Lord has fashioned us and placed us in His creation to play a part in making His glory be known to the world. Every day is set forth and planned by God and so we should embrace this truth and revel in it as the psalmist did when he wrote these words:

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)

My prayer is that you will do this today and give thanks to the Lord who has ordained your life.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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WONDERFULLY MADE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I think I can be safe in saying that we are a people today who tend to be very self conscious, especially about the way we look.

This isn’t a new, twenty-first century phenomena by any means. For quite awhile now, people have shown concerns over the way they are, whether their body shape or proportion of different body parts. We fret over the way our faces look. We worry about our hair style or color. We get on the scale, concerned about our weight and strike countless poses in front of the mirror from almost every conceivable angle to assess and critique our physique. And when we don’t like what we see, we sometimes are willing to take extreme measures to try and become what we want ourselves to be with some even undergoing surgical procedures to alter their looks.

I think you know what I’m talking about and maybe you are counted in this number.

And so with this, I simply ask one question.

Why? Why are we so obsessed with changing the way we look as if we are the ones who are to measure the way we appear? Why can’t we just be satisfied with being the way God designed us to be?

Now, before someone jumps all over me on this and says there are some initiatives and procedures that are necessary, and I want to say I am not speaking out against this, particularly when the need is life saving. Many people today are overweight and need to make lifestyle changes, even to the point of surgery. It’s not these people I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the people who make change for the sake of change, the people who either aren’t aware of or have forgotten these words of David from the 139th Psalm:

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Friends, we are wonderfully made, knit together fiber by fiber by the Creator God of all things, a God who never errs, a God who produces nothing but perfection. All His works are wonderful and out of all His works, perhaps none is more beautifully conceived than mankind. We are His handiwork and He marvels over all He has created.

Please keep that in mind the next time you look at yourself and think you don’t measure up in some way. Don’t allow the world to dictate who you are to include how you appear. Always remember that God loves you just the way He created you and He always will.

Praise and give thanks to Him always for that and live in peace.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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