The Thoughts Of God

Posted on November 8, 2024 by heatonkent

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. (Psalm 139:17-18)

The Thoughts Of God

There is a lot on David’s mind. He knew that God was everywhere, that there was no place David could go, and that his Lord was not there. Everything he did and thought was known by God. The omnipresence of the Lord was a comfort to the shepherd king, knowing he was surrounded by the love and grace of his heavenly Father. David longed for the overshadowing of the presence of God in his life to lead him and keep him from evil. The knowledge of God began when David was in his mother’s womb. It seemed incredible to him that God had such vast knowledge. Many men would fear the eternal knowledge of the Lord, but David invited the investigation of his Creator to know everything about his life.

The mind of man is unable to grasp how big the mind of God is entirely. In the vast expanse of the universe with billions and billions of galaxies and innumerable stars, the Lord God looks down on His pale blue dot called Earth and seeks out the heart of a man named David to know who he is and what he is doing. God has been doing this since he first created Adam and Eve. That thought is something David cannot grasp. The sum of God’s power is without words. David never fears the presence of the Lord. There is no dread or fear of knowing God is so powerful. David used this knowledge to defeat the giant in the valley of Elah. Goliath came against David with a sword and spear. David came with a sling, a rock, and the name of the Lord God Almighty.

God is mindful of His children. It should be a comfort to know that the heavenly Father seeks out the good and welfare of His children. This is a blessing that is only found in the family of God. David pondered his relationship with God and was overwhelmed at the thoughts of God to consider him worthy of saving. There is joy in knowing that God’s children are in a covenant relationship to receive His immense blessings. God’s love is given to His children, along with His everlasting mercy. Grace comes from the immeasurable character of God to forgive the sins of wicked men. How can one sum up the thoughts of God in the scheme of redemption?

David reminds the people of God there is nothing to be alarmed at: God sees all, knows all, and understands all. He invites God to search him and know what is in his heart. David wants the Lord to test his character as iron to fire. The thought that God has such a presence in his life is a comforting measure of grace. David sinned with Bathsheba when he forgot how much God knew about his life. His repentance came from a heart realizing how omnipresent God was and that he had sinned in his life and stood condemned. He repented. The knowledge of God leads one to repentance. Nothing is hidden from the eyes of the Lord.

It takes courage to live with the knowledge of God’s presence and to live in this knowledge with joy and hope. Walking in the light is a choice to allow the Lord to test every fiber of a person’s heart for faithfulness. Inviting the microscope of God’s eternal vision to peer into what a man thinks, says, and does is not an easy task. David welcomed it into his life. The thoughts of God to man are impossible to put into words; how great is the sum of them. Joy is found when we awake and find that God is still there because He is faithful and true.

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Understanding The Mysteries Of The World

Posted on November 7, 2024 by heatonkent

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:3)

Understanding The Mysteries Of The World

“God had nothing to do with it!” the scientists insisted. Birds are able to navigate when they migrate because they have a compass inside their heads. That’s all. But then somebody asked these scientists who set the compass to adjust for the Earth’s rotation. Well, that,” the scientists said, “remains a mystery.”

The mystery of the world has never been a mystery. God created the world as a testimony of His divine design and wisdom. Everything about creation declares the unity of God’s divine will. The idea that the universe does not have a designer belies the immensity of designs found in its architect. Explaining how birds migrate thousands of miles cannot be answered through human wisdom. Monarch butterflies migrate on precision courses at precise times to exact locations every year. These frail creatures overcome incredible odds to accomplish the impossible.

The universe is a design of perfection, with eight planets circling constantly around the Sun with precision and order. Earth is supported by one moon that remains in orbit, impacting the tides and climate, and has been used since the beginning of time as a beacon for time. The human body is a marvel of science constantly evolving with its secrets and mysteries. It has always been a question of how one explains the world’s intricacies apart from God. There can be no explanation without declaring the glory of God.

What man finds difficult to imagine is that he is not the center of his world. The truth remains that the Earth is not the center of the solar system, and the solar system is not the center of the Milky Way, the universe where the Earth is home. There are billions of universes in the known expanse of space. Earth is not even an atomic particle in the vast measure of the known universe. At best, the planet inhabited by humanity is nothing more than a pale blue dot. Scientists believe God had nothing to do with the creation of the universe, and they have no explanation after thousands of years of human investigation. The only conclusion they can offer is that what they cannot explain remains a mystery.

There is no mystery if one believes that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It takes more faith to believe God did not create the world than it does to accept the divine truth. There is no mystery when the perfect design of the universe is placed in the template of God’s word. Birds migrate with precision because there is a compass they follow created by the hand of God. Mysteries are answered by examining the world’s questions through the microscope of God’s word. The Bible is the laboratory where answers can be found.

God has not left us without a testimony of His divine plan. By faith, man knows that the universe was formed at God’s command. It may not be proven in a Petrie dish, but it can be proven by the word of God, which explains how the world was created. The challenge for human wisdom is to recognize that what is seen in this world does not come from anything that can be seen. Explaining the birds’ migration is found in God’s special revelation. Read the Bible to find the answers. God created the universe in a spectacular way.

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Divine Knowledge Before Birth

Posted on November 6, 2024 by heatonkent

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:13-17)

Divine Knowledge Before Birth

Childbirth is the foundation of humanity, beginning with Eve delivering Cain into the world as the first child to be born. It is hard to imagine how wonderful yet confusing the pregnancy of Eve was because she had no peers to explain what was happening. She could feel her son growing inside of her but could not imagine what was happening. It had to be amazing for Adam to watch his wife go through nine months of pregnancy, not knowing it would be around nine months. Little did Adam understand why Eve kept wanting pickles and ice cream.

Through the centuries, the evolution of pregnancy has sought to answer the question of what is happening in the womb. Manuscripts from ancient civilizations describe many ways people used to predict the sex of the child. With only a 50% chance of right or wrong, the predictions were often correct. The desire to know more about what happens during pregnancy led to technological advancements in the study of the womb. One of the promising inventions was the development of ultrasound, which was first used for clinical purposes in 1956. Advancements in modern technology have dramatically increased the ability to see the child in the womb and with a high prediction rate of what the sex of the child is. This has also led to surgical interventions that have saved many young children from death.

Man has only recently been able to peer inside the womb. God has known what is in the womb since Eve became pregnant with Cain. The poet David was not a medical doctor, but he understood something about the knowledge of the womb, which was far ahead of his time. Without looking into the womb, David knew that God formed the child. He understood what was in the womb of the mother was not a thing to be discarded for trivial reasons but an actual human being created in the image of God. As the body was formed inside the womb, David knew God watched each part skillfully wrought to the design established by the Lord.

For David, his praise of God’s creative power was an amazing story to consider. He knew God saw him while he was in his mother’s womb. It amazed him to know the knowledge of God even while he was developing in the womb. Living in a world without modern comforts and technology increased this awareness. Could anyone of that day imagine a machine that would allow man to peer into the womb? It was too fantastic to consider. David believed in the power of God to know how the child developed and formed. He knew the creative design showed the handiwork of the Lord.

Technology has taken much of the shine away from the discovery of birth. Many couples today decide to know the sex of the child before birth, which is a wonderment. But it is also sad not to experience the expressive joy of the moment the child is born and seeing the baby for the first time. God has watched the baby grow from the moment He implanted the seed of life into the womb. What David knew about childbirth was that it began by God’s power. Watching the womb grow and the baby move about in the womb was incredible. When the time of birth came, and the little child came forth with ten toes, ten fingers, and a fully developed body, David was amazed.

David’s conclusion was profound about the process of birth. He knew how precious the thoughts of God are as the Divine watched the baby grow. The joy of birth is the power of creation given to humanity to create a being that will never cease to exist by God’s power. All of the process of birth is a testimony to the glory of God. Pregnancy is about the life of a human being, made in the image of God and watched over as the child develops by the divine knowledge of their Creator. David could not number the ways to exclaim the wondrous marvel of birth. It was beyond his comprehension. May we never lose the wonderment and joy of birth.

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Where Can I God That God Is Not There?

Posted on November 5, 2024 by heatonkent

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. (Psalm 139:7-12)

Where Can I Go That God Is Not There?

Point Nemo, a location in the Pacific Ocean, is considered the most remote place on the planet. It is the farthest point on Earth from any land. The people closest to Point Nemo are those in the International Space Station, two-hundred-fifty miles above. Point Nemo is located 1666 miles from the nearest land. Ducie Island (Pitcairn Islands) to the north, Motu Nui (Easter Islands) to the northeast, and Maher Island (part of Antarctica) to the south. It has famously become the dumping ground of space debris due to its extremely remote location. When the International Space Station is decommissioned, it will find its watery grave in this area.

Travel to Point Nemo is difficult and dangerous due to ocean conditions and weather. It is not on any shipping lanes because it is so remote. Humans rarely visit the area, but the psalmist David knew that any place on earth that seems remote and desolate to man is where God has been since creation. Mount Everest is the tallest peak in the world, and the deepest place on earth is the Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. God is in both places. The darkest place on earth is daylight to the Lord who created it. There is no place that man can go that God does not know and see.

David’s knowledge of God’s presence was a blessing, as he knew God would always be with him. Evil men do not accept they cannot hide from God because they love the darkness. The child of God embraces the knowledge that God will never forsake them because He is everywhere. Life can be overwhelming and foreboding. Dark clouds of fear come without warning, bringing uncertainty to the heart. David proclaims God’s presence is the sure promise of security and trust. Whatever is happening in life, God is there. Wherever a man walks, God is there. There is nothing that escapes the eyes of the Lord. The presence of God becomes the eternal security blanket of divine love, reassuring the heart of man that he has nothing to fear.

When God created man, He saw that being alone was not good for him. The Lord created woman to be a helpmeet to the man. What happened in the garden when Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit is that God had to separate Himself from His creation. This was not His desire. God wanted a divine fellowship with man, but sin broke that relationship. Through grace, the Lord extends His promise to the world to always be there for man. There is no place on the planet that man can be that God is not there. Man assumes it is difficult to know God, failing to realize that wherever man is, God has already been there, and He wants to reveal Himself.

Seeking the will of the Lord is knowing that God is accessible. The Lord has promised never to forsake His people. That promise remains true through Jesus Christ. In the kingdom of God, the blessings of Heaven await those who eagerly seek Him and trust Him. David reminds the faithful that God’s presence is everywhere and that there is no place one can go without God. Knowing that God is always where I have yet to be is a wonderful and blessed thought. He reveals Himself. Everywhere. Even at Point Nemo.

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God Knows Me

Posted on November 4, 2024 by heatonkent

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.” (Psalm 139:1-6)

God Knows Me

From David’s perspective, the omniscience of God was a blessing without measure. The all-knowing eye of the Lord peering deep into a person’s life can be troubling, but this will not be the case when a man’s life is in harmony with the will of the Father. David knew how extensive the knowledge of God was in his life. David knew his every action was seen and noted by the Lord. Whether he was sitting down or standing up, the Lord knew. God’s knowledge revealed David’s thoughts wherever he was found. God was there if David took a trip to a far-off place. In fact, God knew everything David did, thought, wanted, and where he was going.

Knowing God’s omniscience is so clear that all in life is exposed can be terrifying or wonderful. David welcomed the knowledge of God in His life. He was not sinless, but he was perfecting the word of God in his life. His desire was for God to examine him and search his life. The intent of David’s heart was to glorify God. This oversight from the Lord was a blanket of protection against the wiles of the devil. David could not live without the encompassing knowledge of God in his life to feel the presence of the Lord to guide him.

It has been said that character is what a person does when no one is looking, but the problem is that God is always looking. He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart in CinemaScope. God created man as an eternal creature, and the Lord cannot separate His eternal being from the true nature of man. The limitations of flesh prohibit a man from knowing the other man’s thoughts and intents because he can only know on a carnal level. God knows the heart because man is first an eternal creature. All things that a person does, says and thinks are known by God. It may seem hard to understand, but the Lord does not need a GPS tracker to know where a man is. He sees and knows where everyone is on the face of the planet.

One of the most amazing and wonderful things about the knowledge of God is that while David was astonished by the expanse of God’s knowledge, consider that the Lord knows this about everyone on the planet. The knowledge of God can know and see the lives of more than eight billion souls – at once. He sees and knows what has transpired in the past, and He knows a person in the present. Of the billions of souls that have walked the earth since Adam and Eve, the knowledge of God has retained every facet of a person’s life from the moment they are conceived in the womb to the day they die and where they reside in eternity. The omniscience of God is so high that no man can attain an inkling of the germ of thought that can define it.

David’s thought about the power of God was too wonderful for him and so great a task to try and understand he was almost speechless. How can one grasp the full meaning of the knowledge of God? There is nothing to measure it by. Nothing man has said or done can begin to piece together the immensity of God’s power of knowledge. And yet, God knows. He sees, hears, watches, and judges all that man does. Life is not an open book for the Lord; it’s just open. Think about how much He knows and sees in your life. David welcomed the examination because he believed God would be pleased. Can we say the same about our lives? God sees and knows all. Think about that for a while.

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Sarah Believes When Logic Says Otherwise

Posted on November 3, 2024 by heatonkent

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. (Hebrews 11:11-12)

Sarah Believes When Logic Says Otherwise

There are many things that remain unchanged since the beginning of time, and one of those is how babies are conceived and born. The birth of a baby has remained the same, with only one exception: Jesus Christ. Born of a virgin, Jesus’ birth was the apex of miracles to show the divinity of Jesus before the final birth of the resurrection, which would be the greatest miracle. One of the constants in the human body is the time clock of age when the womb eventually dies. There is no scientific invention that will change this. Fertility declines with age, and the habitation of a woman’s ability to successfully give birth to a baby is determined by the will of God.

When God called Abraham to leave his homeland, he was seventy-five, and Sarah was sixty-five. The promise made to Abraham was to have a seed that would be like the stars of heaven. Abraham and Sarah realized at their age how difficult that promise would be to fulfill, but waiting twenty-five years for the promised son was a blessing from God. Sarah heard the angels tell Abraham she was to have a son, and she laughed to herself, knowing she was past the age of childbearing. Abraham and Sarah were old and well advanced in age. The angel reminded Abraham there was nothing too hard for the Lord. A son was to be born to this aged couple because God had made that promise.

The faith of Abraham is declared as an example of a man believing in the promises of God without doubting. Sarah was an integral part of the plan as the woman who would bear the pregnancy at the age of ninety. Only through the power of God could Sarah conceive and give birth to a healthy son. Many things are impossible without any solution, but Sarah believes in the impossible. Through the power of God, her aged body could conceive a son, carry Isaac to full term, and deliver him safely. Her faith trusted in the power of God to do the impossible.

There is no logical way to explain a ninety-year-old woman walking around pregnant. Her miracle showed the world her faith and trust in the will of God to accomplish the unbelievable. When anyone looked upon Sarah, they saw her faith. Rationality did not explain what the world saw. It did not make sense. To Sarah, it made perfect sense to trust in the Creator to do something extraordinary and powerful. Faith defies logic because God does not work on the rationale of human wisdom. His wonder and power are beyond the imagination of men. If we have Sarah’s faith, we can defy logic and believe in the impossible.

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The Ear And The Heart

Posted on November 1, 2024 by heatonkent

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

The Ear And The Heart

When the apostles were preaching to the crowd in Jerusalem, they were speaking to a group of people who were devoted to God. Jerusalem was filled with worshippers attending the Feast of Pentecost or Feast of Harvest. Pentecost was one of the three annual pilgrimage feasts every male was required to travel to Jerusalem for. Jesus had told the eleven to return to Jerusalem and wait for the power from on high to come. Providentially planned, Pentecost was on the first day of the week, the day Christ rose from the dead.

The coming of the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the twelve apostles created quite a stir among the people. Hearing the sound of the rushing wind, devout men from every nation who were dwelling in Jerusalem came together to hear the Galileans speak in their own languages. Many were amazed, and some perplexed, seeking to understand what it could mean. Others mocked, suggesting the apostles were drunk. Peter, standing up with the eleven, began to explain the meaning of the series of events, showing how Joel, the prophet, had foreseen the events of the day. The apostle said that Jesus of Nazareth, killed seven weeks earlier, was the Christ, the Son of God. Peter proved his explanation by looking at the life of Jesus, the testimony of the prophet David, and the conclusion that the crucified Jesus was both Lord and Christ.

As Peter was speaking, the crowd listened intently. It is uncertain how many people were gathered to hear the apostles speak. There were likely thousands of people. Luke will confirm that three thousand responded to the words of the apostles, but many did not accept the teaching of God. One thing everyone had in common in the audience was they were all hearing what the apostles were preaching in their own language. No one could excuse themselves that they could not hear the word of the Lord. God had provided, through the Holy Spirit, for the apostles to speak in the exact languages of the nations represented that day. Everyone listened to the message with their ears.

The distance between the ear and the heart is minimal, and yet, so often, it is separated by an eternity. God designed the body in a perfect union when He bookended the spiritual heart with two ears. The heart is metaphorically used for the mind, located directly between both ears. It can be suggested God gave everyone two ears to listen more intently. As the apostles testified and exhorted the crowd to save themselves, the hearts of three thousand souls responded. They heard what everyone else heard, but they heard something deeper. There were the mockers in the crowd who thought the men speaking were drunk. The three thousand realized what Peter was saying was true.

When three thousand people listened to the gospel’s message, their hearts were pricked, cut, pierced, and moved by the power of conviction. There were no arguments or debates. They asked the apostles what needed to be done to avert the wrath of God for killing His Son. There was no doubt they needed to be saved. First, the ear heard the message, and then the heart reacted. The three thousand did not wait for a more convenient time to sort things out. There was no delay in how they responded to what they heard because their hearts burned within them. It took the ears and the heart to bring three thousand people to the power of the gospel.

After Peter and the eleven exhorted the crowd with more preaching, the feet of three thousand people took action. What began with the ears and the hearts became the action of the feet to obey what Peter said. The apostle told the three thousand to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. Those who responded did something few people do today. They obeyed without arguing. Why? They heard the gospel, and their hearts accepted the word as truth. Then, they did exactly what God told them to do without debate or discussion.

The world needs ears that are open to the word of God and hearts receptive to the teaching of Jesus. There is no doubt what the Bible teaches about salvation. People hear the gospel’s message, but their hearts are not pierced. When their hearts fail, their feet fail. The plea of God is to open your ears and accept in your heart the gospel of Jesus Christ so that you can act upon what you have heard to have your sins washed away in the blood of Jesus. Hearing alone will not save you. Believing alone will not save you. Peter told them to repent and be baptized. They heard it. Their hearts believed it. Three thousand people became children of God that day. What are you hearing? Do you believe the word of God? Are you ready to accept without question what God expects of you? Check your ears and your heart.

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Servitude Begins With A Mop

Posted on October 31, 2024 by heatonkent

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)

Servitude Begins With A Mop

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s Hamburgers, describes his philosophy for humble service. “I got my M.B.A. long before my G.E.D. I even have a photograph of me in my M.B.A. graduation outfit: a snazzy knee-length work apron. I guarantee you that I’m the only founder among America’s big companies whose picture in the corporate annual report shows him wielding a mop and a plastic bucket. That wasn’t a gag; it was a case of leading by example. At Wendy’s, an M.B.A. does not mean a Master of Business Administration. It means Mop Bucket Attitude. It’s how we define satisfying the customer through cleanliness, quality food, friendly service, and atmosphere.”

Jesus taught His disciples that to be great in the kingdom of God, one must become a servant. The world prides itself on being in control and having power. Success is measured by how great a person can become without regard for others. The name of the game is to grab the gold ring at any cost. Dave Thomas understood that the principle of succeeding is found in humility. The work ethic is best defined by leading by example. Jesus became the ultimate example of showing how to be great in servitude.

The disciples of Jesus argued about who was to be great in the kingdom. Jesus took a little child and placed the young boy in the midst of the disciples, telling them that greatness was found in the humble heart of a child. Arrogance and pride can elevate someone to great heights in the corporate world, but they can become empty victories without servitude. Children do not possess a prideful heart. They can play with other children with a pure heart. Sadly, pride is learned early when taught by parents to excel at any cost.

Humility is the spirit of serving. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus Christ must be like the Savior. What greater example of humility can be given than considering the Son of God leaving His place with the Divine and becoming a man? Jesus was God, yet He took on the physical form of His creation to save the world from sin. The Son of God suffered all the humiliations of the flesh to the point of death on the cross because He humbled Himself to serve humanity. To be like Christ, the follower must have the spirit of humility.

A Christian is a person possessed of a humble heart. They consider all the wonderful blessings of a graceful God who has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in Christ. The joy of forgiveness moves the heart to see how great the sacrifice of Jesus was to save them. A child of God can be nothing more than a servant to others to show them the love of God. To be great, learn how to humble yourself before the love of God.

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Happy Birthday

Posted on October 30, 2024 by heatonkent

The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:10-12)

Happy Birthday

I was born sixty-eight years ago, and while I was the center of attention, I remember nothing. My conception was unexpected and untimely. Five siblings preceded me, and the surprising news of a new baby was difficult, considering my closest sibling was only eleven months apart. There were medical concerns with my brother, and this weighed heavily on my parents. The family was not dirt-poor but grass-poor. We never went hungry, but putting food on the table was difficult. Through the gracious acts of our church family, we were provided for. Our father worked hard and did his best to provide a home. There was no air conditioning or carpets on the floor. The Jim Walter home we lived in gave us all we needed. Box fans in the windows helped move the air through the central Florida summers. Two single gas heaters warmed a small portion of the house on the rare cold days.

I remember nothing of the first part of my life in infancy, and I had no control over those days. All of my needs were met with love and care. In time, I became conscious of who I was and the family to which I was born. My language was English with an American culture. I was born in central Florida. All of my influences came from the culture surrounding me. I learned early the value of the connection with the church. Our family of eight piled into the green Ford Econovan every time the doors were open and always arrived thirty minutes early.

I had little choice about anything during my early years and formative times. I had nothing to do with my birth. My coming into the world was not under my control. As a small baby, I relied upon my family to care for and protect me. I seemed to have trusted my siblings not to sell me to some passing caravan. Living on Maryland Avenue was a romantic time of life in a Norman Rockwell setting. As I grew older, something notable changed. I began to make decisions for myself. I went to school and graduated from high school. After three years in the Army, I went to college. A few years later, I met a beautiful young lady who had experienced the same life beginnings as I. We married and were blessed with four beautiful children. They shared the same life beginnings as we did.

The beginning of a person’s life is not under their control. A child is born because of the choice of two people. They have no say, power, or influence to decide yes or no. When a child is born, the choice has been made by two people. As a young infant, the child cannot fend for themselves, requiring the attention and care of others. If a baby is left without care, they will die. This law of life is true for everyone. I speak English because I was born in an English-speaking country. If a child is born in China, they will be influenced by the Chinese culture. Every nation brings children into the world under that culture’s influence. The common factor for every human being is that no one has a choice about whether they are born.

There is a story told of a man who sued his parents for not asking him if he wanted to be born. Anyone can see the absurdity of this question. It reminds us that our beginnings came without choice. God designed the world in this fashion. When a child is conceived in the womb, God sees the child form and grow through His divine knowledge. God gives life to the seed to produce a human being. Man does not give life to the seed. Life comes from God alone. What is remarkable about the birth of a child is that, through the power of God, a man, and woman conceive a child that will become a full-size human being who will engage in life’s activities and never cease to exist. The world is full of more than eight billion souls who have come from the womb. Again, none of these billions of souls had a choice about birth.

The common factor shared by everyone is that while there was no choice about birth, God has given man a choice about another birth. Ironically, another birth that all humanity will experience is the eternal birth. Everyone is an immortal creature that will never cease to exist. An eternal birth takes place when the body ceases from life and dies. It must be noted that death kills the body, but it does not destroy the eternal nature of a human being. When I became conscious of who and what I was, I became accountable to the God who formed me. These past sixty-eight years have been a process of choice. I made good choices, bad choices, and terrible choices. Bill Hall said that life is not about the absence of regrets but the desire to live with the fewest of regrets. That has been hard to follow.

Every person enters a time of accountability to God regardless of gender, nationality, or historical time of birth. Life begins without a choice, but it will end with a choice. I had no control over my physical birth, but everything that has to do with my eternal birth is my decision and mine alone. Jesus came to offer the world a better way to choose, one that comes with everlasting life and joy. The gospel of two declares the choice of eternity is either in Heaven with God or Hell with the devil. I cannot change what has brought me into this world, but I must choose where I will spend eternity. God has given me the ability to choose right and wrong. If I choose evil, I am to blame. Jesus has provided a way for me to know a life that will set me free.

The sadness of the world is to know how many billions of people die each day unprepared for a choice they could have made. No one has power over their birth, but everyone controls their destiny. God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son to show men the right choice. Celebrating a birthday is a wonderful experience; by God’s grace, more will be shared. I know I will one day remove this earthly garment of flesh and enter a world without words. The only thing that will matter is being found in Christ. That will bring joy to the choice I have made to serve the Lord. Happy birthday, friend. Are you making the right choice?

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Trusting In The Wrong Things

Posted on October 29, 2024 by heatonkent

Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:23-25)

Trusting In The Wrong Things

Riches and wealth have been around since the beginning of time. Man is the only creature to give his life for gold in a river. A bear, walking in the same river and seeing the same gold, will only look for a fish. He will not heed the glistening of the gold because he knows there is no value in something that will not sustain life. The bear desires to feed his stomach to survive. Gold will not do that. Wars have been fought over riches. Money has ruined families, destroyed friendships, and led to murder, drugs, and prostitution. Men have spent their lives amassing the largest cache of money possible and leaving it all when they die.

There is nothing inherently wrong with riches. Currency is required to conduct business, whether it is salt, precious jewels, or paper currency. A modern version is trying to use electronics as money. A piece of paper backed by authority is worth its face value. When the United States was divided as a country, the southern states created their own currency that became worthless after the war. Those who trusted in the Confederate dollar were left empty. The worth of money rises and falls. World economies influence world currencies, making some rich and some poor. Trusting in riches is a fickle experience.

Jesus had watched a wealthy man walk away from Him. The man came to Jesus seeking eternal life. He understood there was more to life than the world he knew and wanted to secure a place in eternity. After Jesus told him what he needed to do to be saved, he walked away sorrowfully. He was unwilling to part with his riches. The wealth he was accustomed to was his security blanket. As a Jew, he was an obedient child of God, living under the covenant of the Law of Moses with a clear devotion to duty. He failed because he believed wealth was more important than his relationship with God.

Trust is a pattern of thought that embeds one’s belief in a certain area with an exclusion of other things. Riches and wealth can be used for many good things, which is commendable before God. Many of the great people of scripture were very wealthy, including Job, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Boaz, and Saul of Tarsus at one time. Jesus said it was hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Wealthy people can become Christians, but the riches of this life can hinder obedience. If a man trusts in wealth instead of God, he cannot be a disciple of Jesus.

The rich man was told to sell all his wealth, give his money (all of it) to the poor, and follow Jesus. He could not let go of his wealth to follow Jesus. Sadly, he died and left all his riches and was not rich for eternity. He trusted too much in something worthless. Money has such a strong pull over people’s hearts that many will never obey the gospel because they love money. The greed of another dollar drives people to work jobs that rob them of their spirituality. They believe their happiness comes from houses, cars, boats, recreation, and the newest toys. Jesus teaches that if a man trusts in riches, he cannot be a disciple of God. The two are not compatible or comparable.

It matters what a person trusts in for his hope. There is nothing in this world worth holding on to because all things of this life will disappear. The hope of Christ and the love of God will endure forever and will bring the wealth of eternity. If there is a lesson from the story of the rich ruler, trust in God and leave the riches for the blessings shared with others. Trusting in God brings happiness. Riches will never bring you true happiness.

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