The Mind-Blowing Love of God

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but the best ones are those who render you almost speechless.  I rediscovered one of those today.

I am a collector of pictures, most notably pictures of the natural world.  Some are those that I have taken myself, but also many from other sources.  I keep these pictures on my computer and use them as my desktop background.  Since I have quite a few, I change my background on a regular basis.  As I was deciding what my next change was going to be I found a picture of a spiral galaxy tucked away in one of my folders.  This got me thinking along the lines of astronomical pictures.  I did a search for this kind of pictures and came to a rather reliable source for good astronomical pictures, the site for the Hubble Space Telescope aptly named hubblesite.org.  Naturally I found a number of good pictures, but there was one that every time I see it blows my mind.

The title of the photo is rather mundane (it's called "The Hubble Deep Field North"), but what is in the picture is anything but mundane.  The caption states,

About 1,500 galaxies are visible in this deep view of the universe, taken by allowing the Hubble Space Telescope to stare at the same tiny patch of sky for 10 consecutive days in 1995. The image covers an area of sky only about width of a dime viewed from 75 feet away.

Take a look for yourself and keep in mind that practically every speck you see is not merely a star, but rather a galaxy of stars.


Source: Hubblesite.org

Here's a brief video on how the picture was taken.


Here are two points that stood out to me.

• There are galaxies in the picture which are 12 billion light years away (a light year is approx. 6 trillion miles).  A billion times a trillion is a very large number.
• Each of the approx. 1,500 galaxies can consist of 1-100 billion stars.
• Also remember that this is from a piece of the sky smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.

As your mind is already straining to comprehend the size of it all, let me throw this fact at you.  The same God Who created and cares for all of this would have emptied Himself to save you if you were the only one who needed saving.

Behold the mind-blowing love of God.

The Ultimate Valentine

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 KJV

As of last night and especially this morning I had a desire to write something about Valentine's Day.  I didn't know exactly what to write until just a few moments ago.  If you only remember one thing from this post, I want it to be the fact that Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Valentine for you.

As is often the case, when a holiday comes around I like to look at its history.  So yesterday I went to the good people over at The History Channel to see what they had to say.  Here is what they said.

 

I won't go repeat much of what you just saw except the line at the end which states that even though you may not be able to purchase the gift that you want to give, the poets were right.  Love is really all you need.  It is the Ultimate Love that I want you to have.

Too much of this day is focused on the things of this earth:  gifts, cards, flowers, etc.  These things are all well and good, if done responsibly, and especially if you have someone to give these things to or receive them from.  For many people this day is a day of loneliness, a day of frustration, a day of despair.  If you are one of these people, and even if you are not, the Ultimate Valentine is for you.

The Ultimate Valentine is, naturally, Jesus Christ.  According to the Bible verse written above God will supply all your need according to His riches in glory.  Jesus Christ is the instrument in which God supplies all our need.

The Valentine gifts we receive and give are but tokens of our love and affection, but the gift God gave in the person of Jesus Christ was not merely a representation of His love, it was His love for us.  So if you are in need of something or someone this Valentine's Day look no further than the One Who emptied heaven itself so that we could have all the things that He has, and (most importantly) someday soon be where He is as well.

A Marked Contrast

The more I learn about the character and practice of Jesus, the more I see the contrast between His life and ours.

I'm currently reading through the book The Desire of Ages (something I think everyone should do once in awhile), and not long ago as I was reading the chapter entitled "At Capernaum" I came across a statement that, as the saying goes, hit me like a ton of bricks.  It reads as follows.

"And the wonder of the careless crowd jarred upon His spirit. In His life no self-assertion mingled. The homage which the world gives to position, or wealth, or talent, was foreign to the Son of man. None of the means that men employ to win allegiance or command homage did Jesus use. Centuries before His birth, it had been prophesied of Him, 'He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the dimly burning flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth.' Isa. 42:2-4, margin." pg. 260-261

One way in which the folks at Merriam-Webster define the verb "jar" is "to have a harshly disagreeable or disconcerting effect."  To put it more simply, the wonder of the crowd went completely against the very core of Jesus' spirit.  How many of us could say the same thing?  This jarring was not simply a sense of being overwhelmed, which is what many of us would feel in a similar situation.  It wasn't that He couldn't handle the attention.  He didn't want it.

The second sentence regarding self-assertion also caught my attention.  I've lost track of how many times I've heard people say to me or to someone else that I/they need to promote ourselves more.  The non-Christian world (that includes those who are Christians in name only) is all about self promotion.  You want to get ahead in life, get yourself noticed.  You have to climb the corporate ladder, make a name for yourself, break through the glass ceiling, etc. in order to be somebody in today's world.

After stating how much the Pharisees loved getting attention, the writer continues.

"In marked contrast to all this was the life of Jesus. In that life no noisy disputation, no ostentatious worship, no act to gain applause, was ever witnessed. Christ was hid in God, and God was revealed in the character of His Son. To this revelation Jesus desired the minds of the people to be directed, and their homage to be given. The Sun of Righteousness did not burst upon the world in splendor, to dazzle the senses with His glory. It is written of Christ, 'His going forth is prepared as the morning.' Hosea 6:3. Quietly and gently the daylight breaks upon the earth, dispelling the shadow of darkness, and waking the world to life. So did the Sun of Righteousness arise, 'with healing in His wings.' Mal. 4:2."  pg. 261

Lord, help me not to seek to draw attention to myself, but only to give glory to You. Amen.