(07.08.21– Living in God! – Psalm 29:2)
What does God look like? Wow! Isn't creation beautiful–isn't God beautiful? And, think about this: God is in Christ and Christ is in God. The Bible tells us that we are in Christ and, therefore, we are in God. Can it get much more beautiful than that?
My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.
I'm M. Clifford Brunner.
When is the last time that you thought about the "beauty" of God? The Bible tells us that we know him by the mystery of his splendor. I think that sometimes you and I forget how beautiful, how awesomely majestic and handsomely glorifying our God is. Yes, he's a spirit– so that it makes it difficult to ascribe beauty to a God without human form. Perhaps the reason that it is so difficult is that we're so hung up on the form and are forgetting the substance. God is the Word. God is the creation. God is love, truth, justice, mercy, grace, light and a long list of other qualities that define beauty. Read the Bible. Meditate on the Word. Push back from your chair for a moment and think about the beauty of what you just read. God is beautiful in the same sense that the words in your Bible are beautiful. For example, it rained yesterday and there were thousands of tiny crystals of light shining through the water dripping from the leaves of the trees here at Beech Springs. Wow!
Isn't creation beautiful–isn't God beautiful? And, think about this: God is in Christ and Christ is in God. The Bible tells us that we are in Christ and, therefore, we are in God. Can it get much more beautiful than that?
"Give us today our daily bread." When I come to this part of the Lord's Prayer I can't help but stop for a moment and reflect on God's beauty. God provides food, clothing, shelter, security and employment while at the same time allowing hardship, sickness, pain and, yes, even death. Yet, can there be anything more beautiful than a God who both gives blessings and allows sorrows while always promising we will never be outside the palm of his hand? He says that we are the "Apple of His Eye." He is so close to us in happiness and in sorrow that we are reflected in the spiritual pupil of his eye. Think about it! You and I are daily, face-to-face with the divine creator of the universe and we are not blinded by his beauty because we ourselves are a part of that beauty.
You and I look out on a decaying world daily. Yet we find beauty there despite the decay. But, the world around us in no real indicator of beauty in and of itself. Nevertheless, because it's so tangible, we often exalt it to what we call beautiful. We are impressed with our scientific discoveries and cultural advances. They improve life and, therefore, make things more beautiful. Think about all the "green" focus we see around us today. Everyone is focused on how we need to seek a more "beautiful" environment. God looks down on our strivings to seek beauty here on earth and smiles. A. W. Tozer put it: "He is not impressed. He is calling mankind to Himself, to HIS holiness and beauty and not that of the world." (Tozer, The Attributes of God) God gives us our daily bread. He is that bread for He created it. Now, that IS beautiful!
We pray. Heavenly Father, we look out on a decaying world daily and because it's so tangible, we often exalt it to what we call beautiful. Forgive us Father when we are so impressed with our scientific discoveries and cultural advances as a society that we think about all the "green" focus we see around us and glory in that. We are always so focused on how we need to seek a more “beautiful” environment, yet You look down on our strivings to seek beauty here on earth and merely smile. We are sure that You are not impressed. Instead You are calling us to Yourself, to Your holiness and beauty and not that of the world." You give us our daily bread. You are that bread for You have created it. Now, that IS beautiful! In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.
If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to ”This Passing Day!”
<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.