I heard an expression the other day that I thought was unique.  Two guys were talking and one of them said …”You know how small a herd of cattle looks when you whiz by them on the interstate.   They are just dots on the hillside.”  He went on to say, “I feel about as important as a gnat on the head of one of those cows.”  It was his way of saying, “I feel pretty small.”

             Life has a way of making us feel pretty worthless and insignificant at times.  At times our self-esteem takes a beating, and we wander does my life even matter?  Would anyone even care if I were to suddenly disappear off the face of the earth?  I  believe the Devil loves to plant those damaging thoughts of self-doubt in our brains.

             But God’s Word tells us a different story.  Look at some of these amazing verses:

Jeremiah 1:5 "I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."; Psalm 139:14-16 (Actually the whole Psalm reminds us how special we are to God.) “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous … and how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Matthew 10: 29-31 “Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.  And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.  so don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.”  Or finally, Ephesians 2: 10  “For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

             These verses remind us that we are not an accident.  We are God’s gift to the world.  We are a masterpiece, a work of art, created and signed by the master painter.

             I have a friend who worked for NASCAR who has a hood from a car driven in the Daytona 500 that is signed by over 30 NASCAR drivers like Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt, Jr. and Mark Martin.  Now there is nothing special about the hood.  It is simply sheet metal and paint.  You could probably buy one at a junk yard for less than a hundred dollars.  The thing that makes it valuable are the signatures.

             The same is true with us.  In the grand scheme of nature, human beings are not all that special.  We’re not as fast as a cheetah, we’re not as strong as a horse, we’re not as tall as a giraffe, and some of us definitely do not have the memory of an elephant.  The thing that makes us unique is the signature of God.  We are “His work of art, created in His image to do good deeds.”  We are significant not because of what we do, but because of whose we are.  Remember that this week when the world starts to beat you down.  Have a great week!

 

                                                                 Pastor Barry

 

P.S.      I hope you are inviting children to our VBS starting next Monday night.  We are praying for a 
             great week.

 


Comments

Susan Altizer
07/28/2010 16:27

You made a great point. I know where the hood is too. We miss you at your old Roanoke church.

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