Tuesday, July 8, 2008

You're Awesome! Wonderful!

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

                                          Psalm 139.14

Facts and Reasons

Too often we forget what went into our making. We take our existence for granted as a random act of nature. But when we do this, we minimize a truth we must never forget. God planned it this way. We’re here by His Will, not coincidence.

How unfortunate that so many get bogged down in the Creation vs. Evolution debate. It’s entirely possible to accept evolution as documented history and embrace creation as the real story. Evolution gives us the facts. Creation gives us the reasons.  One version answers questions the other doesn’t. Genesis just as easily could have opened with Darwin’s explanation. That would tell us everything we want to know about our history as a species. Instead, it tells us everything God wants us to know about why He made us and why we’re here.

Our Story

Setting aside our history, what’s our story? As Genesis tells it, God created the universe, the world, and everything in it by His word. When our moment came, however, He did something different. Rather than speak us into existence, He personally molded us to look like Him. Instead of commanding us to live, He breathed His life into us. 

Humanity’s first memory isn’t waking up in a new world. It’s being cradled in God’s hand. We didn’t draw our first breath from the atmosphere. Our lungs filled with God’s essence—His eternal life and presence. This constituted His template for every man and woman since then. Each of us arrives held in His hand, filled with His inspiration.

 

Be Who You Are

You are God’s ultimate creation and finest accomplishment, distinctly made to express His presence in the world. He shaped you for His purpose, specifically creating you to be who you are and do what only you can.

You are fearfully, wonderfully made—God’s awesome achievement, His masterpiece.  Know that.  Be that.

Personal Postscript: Being Playlist

At moments when I lose touch with my sense of being, I pull off to the side, shut out everything and everyone else, dim the lights, and let these songs speak to me:

  1. All I Ever Have to Be – Amy Grant
  2. If I Were a Tree – Andrae Crouch
  3. Wonderfully Made – The Waiting
  4. Because of Whose I Am – Karen Harding
  5. Breathe – Byron Cage
  6. I Think I Can Hear You – Carole King
  7. Glorious – Martha Munizzi
  8. Abide in Me – West Angeles COGIC Mass Choir
  9. God Made Man – NewSong
  10. Breathe Into Me – Israel Houghton & New Breed
  11. Living in Me – Barry Blaze
  12. I Was Created to Worship – Straight Gate Mass Choir
  13. All I Must Do – Kathy Troccoli
  14. My Life Is In Your Hands – Kirk Franklin

2 comments:

Rae-Rae said...

Nice Playlist. I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean when you say, "He personally molded us to look like Him." Are you referring to our essence or are you referring to our human features? If you are referring to our essence, then wouldn't this mean that at the bottom of all the different forms and appearences that humans take, there is some basic, real, and invariable nature to humans. If so, what is this essence?

Tim said...

In John 4.24, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "God is spirit," which takes the question of physical resemblance totally off the table. Genesis says He molded us in "His image and likeness," adding that He breathed into us the breath of life and we became living beings. Therefore, we look like God only inasmuch as we are beings fashioned in accordance to the "shape" of His being. This likeness isn't perceptible to the human eye, yet it's present nonetheless and for some, if not all, of us, a good thing to remember--particularly for GLBT people whose self-image is constantly battered by derision and negative projections.

I appreciate your pointing this out, however, simply from a writing aspect, because it finds me trapped in a rather careless, dangerous crevice between metaphor and realism--something I'll watch very closely in the future.

Re "what's this essence?" I believe it's God Himself, going back to the "breathing moment." I hope, over time, this will become increasingly apparent as THE linchpin for "Straight-Friendly." If nothing else, our breath binds all of us together. It proves God's actual presence--His being in our being. If we can learn to accept and honor that, we'll be able to look past the surface personal traits and opinions we create to see one another as beings He created. For GLBT believers, this is especially crucial since it encourages us to find God in others, even those who can't or won't find Him in us.

PS: Please, please keep commenting. It keeps me on my toes and will go a long way to making S-F a livelier and better place. I get the feeling we're going to become great friends!