A S P E C T S - a monthly devotional journal For subscription information on receiving Aspects every month via e-mail, or the laser-printed edition by mail, see NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION near the end of this file. Aspects is written by David S. Lampel. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #39, February 1994 (Internet Edition) W H O ' S I N C H A R G E H E R E ? ----------------------------------------------------------------- In this issue: Perspective 1 - Simple Organisms: Dust to Dust Perspective 2 - Only Piles of Rubble: Fleeting Possessions Perspective 3 - A New and Forever Likeness: Permanent Identity Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." -James 4:13-15 ----------------------------------------------------------------- We were still within the shores of the placid bay, and the ship was moving so slowly that I imagined it would take us days just to clear the final buoy. Yet already my stomach was rolling about and the bones in my legs were turning to gelatin. Suddenly this huge ship--a bulwark of steel seemingly as immovable as the pier to which it had been secured--was bobbing and swaying beneath my feet, offering little support for my quivering constitution. Even so, after about a week's time, I gained my "sea legs" and moved about the ship with the unfaltering step of the old salt I was fast becoming. Then the real waves hit. One night I dreamed I was clinging to the very tip of the mast. As the ship (in my dream) would roll to one side, I would reach down and touch the water on that side of the ship, then, as the ship would roll back, I would reach down and touch the water on the other. I awoke to the sounds of unsecured furniture sliding across the floor and crashing into bulkheads. Suddenly everything in my world was being tossed about like furnishings in an upended dollhouse. Years later, while living in San Diego, I was at work at my desk when, from out of the east, I felt the earth rumbling toward me. This was not like the vibration caused by a passing truck--or even the pounding iron wheels of a diesel locomotive; no, this was the earth itself rolling toward me as if it were a subterranean steamroller, huffing and puffing toward me. The rolling approached from out of the distance--the earth quivered and shook like a huge carpet that someone had grasped from the other end and given a good snap. The rolling wave passed beneath my feet and the cement foundation of our house, then rolled on into the opposite distance. _______________________ The pictures from Southern California have been powerful--in keeping with the Power that created them. This time the earth did not roll by, passing harmlessly beneath feet, but gave a mighty heave like something roused from confinement. This time there were fires and explosions and great gushers when water lines snapped. This time massive slabs of reinforced concrete fell away as if made from papier-mÉchÇ. And a word has been ringing in my ears since first seeing those pictures: dust. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."(1) Mankind has become accustomed to thinking itself the highest form of life. We are masters of our universe--masters of everything we see. We can do what we want, build where we want, take what we want; we answer to no one and apologize for nothing. The present mind-set eliminates the need--or desire--to answer to an all-powerful God. We have forgotten that we are "but dust." _______________________ "The earth has once again given us notice. In spite of all our efforts, there remain powers far beyond our control. To believe in the supremacy of man over the elements is to indulge in self-delusion. Disastrous earthquakes . . show just what a puny position man occupies. We are the servant and not the master; we can attempt to understand Nature, but we can never hope to conquer it."(2) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 1: S I M P L E O R G A N I S M S ------------- "The petty sovereign of an insignificant tribe in North America every morning stalks out of his hovel, bids the sun good morning, and points out to him with his finger the course he is to take for the day. Is this arrogance more contemptible than ours when we would dictate to God the course of His providence, and summon Him to our bar for His dealings with us? How ridiculous does man appear when he attempts to argue with his God!"(3) _______________________ Well, the proponents of the "green slime" theory have at least some of it right. In a recent article, a comparison was drawn between ancient (implied: silly) theories on the creation of life and modern (implied: serious) theories. You be the judge. "'Scientific' theories on the subject are as old as civilization. The ancient Egyptians believed frogs and toads arose from silt deposited by the flooding Nile. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that insects and worms were born of dewdrops and slime, that mice were generated by dank soil and that eels and fish sprang forth from sand, mud and putrefying algae.It took the conceptual might of Charles Darwin to imagine a biologically plausible scenario for life's emergence. In an oft-quoted letter, written in 1871, Darwin suggested that life arose in a "warm little pond" where a rich brew of organic chemicals, over eons of time, might have given rise to the first simple organisms."(4) And of course we all know that those "first simple organisms" then grew up to be our forebears. What I find fascinating is that there is essentially little difference between toads arising from silt, worms from slime, fish from putrefying algae, and man from a "warm little pond." Then what do they have right? That man(5) is constructed from the basest, meanest elements of the earth--that man was plucked up out of the dirt--that he is "but dust." All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.(6) Now let's play fair: What, then, is the essential difference between arising from out of the slime and arising from out of the dust? None. What is different, however, is the agent of that arising. The Bible says that God Himself--Creator of the universe, Lord of time itself--is the one who gouged His fingers into the mud to create man. But that isn't enough. It isn't enough to just say that God did it (as opposed to it being an accident of the cosmos); the real miracle--the wonderful truth to be acquired--is not that God did it, but that He cared to. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?(7) There are those who point to Genesis 1:27 and claim that deity already resides in us all--thereby making superfluous any relationship with Christ. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. But they ignore the second chapter that states we are simply another of His created beings, made of the dust of the earth. At the same time there are those who consider mankind to be nothing more than worm meat, failing to acknowledge that God chose to create us in His image. How do we balance these two? Taking God's word as a whole, instead of lifting out convenient passages, we get a clearer picture of the truth. It helps to think of this in heavenly, eternal terms: We are not heavenly creations (such as the angels) being invited back to our point of origin (heaven); we are earthly creations being invited to share in the eternity of heaven through the grace of a loving God. Into the Word ------------- For dust you are and to dust you will return. -Genesis 3:19b Genesis 2:7 __________________________________ Genesis 18:27 __________________________________ 1 Kings 16:2 __________________________________ Job 10:8-9 __________________________________ Job 34:14-15 __________________________________ Psalm 8:3-4 __________________________________ Psalm 22:15 __________________________________ Psalm 22:29 __________________________________ Psalm 30:9 __________________________________ Psalm 44:25 __________________________________ Psalm 103:13-16 __________________________________ Psalm 104:29 __________________________________ Psalm 119:25 __________________________________ Psalm 144:1-4 __________________________________ Eccl 3:20 __________________________________ Eccl 12:1-8 __________________________________ Isaiah 26:19 __________________________________ Isaiah 29:3-4 __________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- The God of Abraham Praise The God of Abraham praise, who reigns enthroned above; Ancient of everlasting days, and God of love. Jehovah, great I AM, by earth and heaven confessed; I bow and bless the sacred Name, forever blest. The God of Abraham praise, at whose supreme command From earth I rise, and seek the joys at His right hand. I all on earth forsake, its wisdom, fame, and power; And Him my only portion make, my shield and tower. He by Himself hath sworn, I on His oath depend; I shall, on eagle's wings upborne, to heaven ascend; I shall behold His face, I shall His power adore, And sing the wonders of His grace forevermore. The whole triumphant host give thanks to God on high; "Hail, Father, Son and Holy Ghost!" They ever cry. Hail, Abraham's God and mine! I join the heavenly lays; All might and majesty are Thine, and endless praise.(8) Making it Personal ------------------ Those who are guilty of thinking more of themselves or their position than they should are guilty of the sin of pride. C.S. Lewis said "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down you can't see something that is above you.(9) How does it make you feel to be reminded that we are all nothing "but dust"? Are you quick to identify with things lowly? Or, conversely, do you have the urge to argue the point, to defend the value and values of humanity? What relationship does this have with the concept of servanthood? In Romans 9:20-21, Paul teaches But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like this?'" [21] Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? Out of what material are clay pots made? Read also Isaiah 29:6; Jeremiah 18:1-6 and Jeremiah 19:1-13 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.(10) Into the Word ------------- Most of the references above (Into the Word) speak of mankind's lowly position when compared with God's. Find references that speak of our inherent (by His design) dignity (specifically the dignity mankind has outside of--or prior to--the blood of Christ; a discussion of that will come later.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 2: O N L Y P I L E S O F R U B B L E ------------- What Really Matters? "Nothing that matters is new. Nothing is new that matters and nothing that matters can be modernized. Almost everything that men value today has been developed from some primitive archetype: the streamlined auto from the wheel, the skyscraper from the stone arch, the supersonic airplane from the kite, our methods of communication from hieroglyphics or the jungle drum.What really matters after all? My personal relation to God matters. That takes priority over everything else. A man may [have everything our modern society can devise,] yet what will all this profit him if he must later rise to face in judgment a God who knows him not and whom he does not know. To come at last before the bar of eternal justice with no one to plead his cause and to be banished forever from the presence of the great Judge--is that man any better off than if he had died a naked savage in the hinterlands of Borneo? The naked aborigine is as near to God (and as far from Him) as the Ph.D. Nothing new can save my soul; neither can saving grace be modernized."(11) _______________________ The young man was being interviewed by someone from the national press. He and his wife were standing before a pile of rubble that had earlier been their apartment. Just moments before, the video camera had recorded the scene as the couple's cat had finally emerged safe and sound from the shapeless rubble. The young man's face was calm, almost emotionless as he told their tale. He patiently described how, without warning, their home had crumpled atop their heads. Miraculously, he said, they had all survived unscathed. Perhaps he was in shock. Perhaps he was still numb from his rude awakening that morning. We should be forgiving of those who have just been through such traumatic events. We should not be quick to jump inside their heads to rearrange the thoughts. Nonetheless, the words with which he finished the interview were smug and assured--and are descriptive of a society filled with people eager to surround themselves with the trinkets of success. "I have nothing," he said with an unblinking countenance, "nothing. Everything I had was lost. I have nothing but the clothes on my back." 'Nothing?' I thought. What about your life, your health? What about your wife, for crying out loud--doesn't she count?. And let's not forget the family cat. How incredible, I thought; as this man's family was defined, his family was still intact. Yet, to him, he had nothing left. "Who then is he that can stand before Me? Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine."(12) >From where have we learned to expect more? If everything belongs to God, then how can we feel cheated when we have less than others--or less than we had yesterday? If even those things we "create" are simply bits and pieces of things God has already created, how then can we boast in our creations? While they can indeed be traumatic and unpleasant, natural disasters are excellent classrooms in which to observe the priorities of this society. >From the floods of this summer, to the fires of this fall and the earthquake just befallen Southern California, we may observe how many have placed their faith in the accoutrements of living. Written across the strained and anguished faces we can see that some have even invested all of their self-worth and self-estimation in those things purchased with a paycheck. They have become what they own--no more, no less. Into the Word ------------- . . . a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. -Luke 12:15b Exodus 20:17 __________________________________ Deut 5:21 __________________________________ Job 31:16-28 __________________________________ Psalm 119:35-37 __________________________________ Prov 11:23-26 __________________________________ Prov 21:25-26 __________________________________ Prov 23:4-5 __________________________________ Prov 30:8-9 __________________________________ Eccl 4:8 __________________________________ Eccl 5:10-11 __________________________________ Isaiah 5:8 __________________________________ Isaiah 56:10-11 __________________________________ Haggai 1:5-6 __________________________________ Matthew 6:19-34 __________________________________ Matthew 13:22 __________________________________ Matthew 16:26 __________________________________ Matthew 19:23-24 __________________________________ Mark 4:18-19 __________________________________ Luke 7:14 __________________________________ Luke 12:15-21 __________________________________ Luke 12:33-34 __________________________________ Luke 18:24-25 __________________________________ John 6:26-27 __________________________________ Romans 13:1-14 __________________________________ Eph 5:3-5 __________________________________ Phil 3:18-21 __________________________________ Col 3:1-6 __________________________________ 1 Tim 3:2-3 __________________________________ 1 Tim 6:6-11 __________________________________ 1 Tim 6:17 __________________________________ 2 Tim 3:1-5 __________________________________ Titus 1:7-11 __________________________________ Hebrews 13:5 __________________________________ James 4:2 __________________________________ 1 Peter 5:2-3 __________________________________ 1 John 2:15-17 __________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Must I Go, and Empty-Handed? "Must I go, and empty-handed," thus my dear Redeemer meet? Not one day of service give Him, lay no trophy at His feet? Refrain "Must I go, and empty-handed?" Must I meet my Saviour so? Not one soul with which to greet Him: Must I empty-handed go? Not at death I shrink nor falter, for my Saviour saves me now; But to meet Him empty-handed, tho't of that now clouds my brow. O the years in sinning wasted, could I but recall them now, I would give them to my Saviour, to His will I'd gladly bow. O ye saints, arouse, be earnest, up and work while yet 'tis day; Ere the night of death o'er-take thee, strive for souls while still you may.(13) Making it Personal ------------------ What do you think of people who base their opinion of you on your possessions? They say "you can't take it with you." According to the above hymn, what are some things you can carry with you into heaven? Are there any other things we can take with us to heaven? If we should not be defined by what we possess, can possessions, nonetheless, become something standing between us and who we really are? Is it possible for possessions to not become this barrier? (Can we live at peace with those things we have?) Into the Word ------------- Are the possessions we acquire bad or wrong in and of themselves? If God purposely gave great wealth to Solomon, when he didn't even ask for it, then surely the wealth itself is not sinful. Conduct a study of the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30 and see what you can learn about what God wants us to do with those things he gives us. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 3: A N E W A N D F O R E V E R L I K E N E S S ------------- But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands. "During an earthquake, the inhabitants of a small village were very much alarmed, but they were at the same time surprised at the calmness and apparent joy of an old lady whom they all knew. At length one of them, addressing the old lady, said, 'Ma'am, are you not afraid?' 'No,' said the woman, 'I rejoice to know that I have a God who can shake the world.'"(14) _______________________ Earlier we considered who we are essentially, who we were originally: God-made, but made of lowly dust. Then we considered the greater dignity in purposeful generation by a powerful yet gracious God--over the popular theory of accidental generation. Now consider the even higher honor of His hand in our regeneration. Great earthquakes and fires and floods are reminders of our small size. Like ants scurrying over a collapsing hill, we would be drowning in our own insignificance were it not for the new and forever standing we have obtained through His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.(15) It is elementary to know that through Jesus Christ we have gained access to the eternity of heaven. We are not owed this; it is not a return to that place from whence we came, but a permanent change of address to a place where we only now belong. But for most of us that change of address has yet to take place. What about now? What difference does this make right now? How might this change our perspective? Watching the minicam video and news reports, it's fairly easy to spot those who have this more eternal perspective, and those who do not. Temporal -------- "Why me?" "It took us thirty years to acquire everything we had--now in minutes, it's gone." "Everything we had went up with that house. Now there's nothing. Nothing." "What'd we do to deserve this?" Eternal ------- "Did everyone get out? Can we help?" "He gave it all to us; He can take it away." "Our family's alive and safe, and we thank God for that." "It wasn't our time. We don't hold the strings anyway. We're not in charge." _______________________ Those who know Christ needn't fear the uncertainty of tomorrow, or even the calamity of today. Those who rest in the Lord carry around with them a peace and a confidence that baffles those who do not know Him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. [38] Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" [39] He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. [40] He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"(16) Into the Word ------------- God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. -2 Corinthians 5:21 Luke 12:22-32 __________________________________ Romans 5:1 __________________________________ Romans 8:1 __________________________________ Romans 8:38-39 __________________________________ 1 Cor 1:3-6 __________________________________ 1 Cor 1:26-30 __________________________________ 1 Cor 15:16-22 __________________________________ 2 Cor 3:13-16 __________________________________ 2 Cor 5:17-19 __________________________________ 2 Cor 5:21 __________________________________ Gal 3:26-29 __________________________________ Eph 1:13-14 __________________________________ Eph 2:6-18 __________________________________ Col 1:15-23 __________________________________ Col 2:9-10 __________________________________ Col 3:1-4 __________________________________ 1 Thes 4:16 __________________________________ 1 Tim 3:13 __________________________________ 1 Tim 6:17-19 __________________________________ 2 Tim 1:8-10 __________________________________ 1 Peter 5:10 __________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- And Can It Be That I Should Gain? And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Refrain Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me! 'Tis mystery all! Th' Immortal dies! Who can explore His strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love Divine! 'Tis mercy all! let earth adore, let angel minds inquire no more. He left His Father's throne above, so free, so infinite His grace; Emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race; 'Tis mercy all, immense and free; for O my God, it found out me. Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night; Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him is mine! Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness Divine, Bold I approach th'eternal throne, and claim the crown, thro' Christ my own.(17) Making it Personal ------------------ Is your relationship with Christ making a difference in your actions? Would a stranger identify you with Christ? How about someone you've worked with for some time? Have you ever been in a cataclysmic situation like the Midwest floods or the California earthquake? If so, how did you react--both internally and externally? If you haven't been through anything like that, how do you think you might react? A Final Thought --------------- "Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self . . .Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."(18) Into the Word ------------- The title of this section is "A New and Forever Likeness." What is this "likeness"? How does the Bible describe the believer while he is on earth? Once in heaven? For example, you could begin with the familiar passage in 2 Corinthians. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! -2 Cor 5:17 What changes should take place--both inwardly and outwardly--in this "new creation"? What other references can you find? ======================================================================== NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Notes ----- 1 Genesis 2:7; 3:19. 2 Karan Singh (Calcutta), in Time magazine; referring to the recent earthquake in Killari, India. 3 Job 40:1-2; Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon (Shaw, 1990), p.5. 4 J. Madeleine Nash in Time, October 11, 1993, p69ff. 5 Male and female; mankind. 6 Ecclesiastes 3:20. 7 Psalm 8:3-4. 8 Daniel ben Judah (14th Century); revised version of "The Yigdal" by Thomas Olivers (1725-1799). 9 C.S. Lewis in More Gathered Gold (Evangelical Press, 1988), p.249. 10 Isaiah 64:8. 11 A.W. Tozer, Born After Midnight (Christian Publications, c.1959), p88ff. 12 Job 41:10b-11 NASB. 13 Charles C. Luther (1847-1924). 14 Psalm 31:14-15; Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon (Shaw, 1990), p.121. 15 Romans 5:1-2a. 16 Mark 4:37-40. 17 Charles Wesley (1707-1788). 18 C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, Book 4, Chapter II, as quoted in A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C.S. Lewis (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c.1980), p31. Copyright Information --------------------- All original material in Aspects is Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel. This data file is the sole property of David S. Lampel. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel."). This data file may not be used without the permission of David S. Lampel for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content. Brief quotations not to exceed more than 500 words may be used, with the appropriate copyright notice, to enhance or supplement personal or church devotions, newsletters, journals, or spoken messages. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the New International Version. NIV quotations are from the Holy Bible: New International Version, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission. NASB quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. 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