Everything Has Import
“The prize-winning Irish poet Evangeline Paterson sums up her life: ‘I was brought up in a Christian environment where, because God had to be given pre-eminence, nothing else was allowed to be important..." – as quoted in RUMORS OF ANOTHER WORLD by Philip Yancey, p. 71
Philip Yancey worked for 10 years as an Editor and then Publisher for Campus Life magazine before beginning a career as a freelance writer in the 1980s. He has written over 20 books and is among this generation’s most respected Christian authors.
Even such a clear truth can be misapplied and turned into a negative thing. Paterson discovered this distortion and corrected it, writing, "I have broken through to the position that because God exists, everything has significance.” Has the reality of Who God is made everything else in your life more meaningful?
"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy" (Colossians 1:18).
Eyes on the Back of God's Head
When a lion or tiger wants to hunt its prey, it relies on the element of surprise. They seldom approach their pray from the front, because once observed, they've ruined that element of surprise, making the hunt and ultimate victory more difficult. Once observed, the big cats often give up and retreat.
In Africa, to protect themselves from lions and tigers, people wear masks with prominent eyes on the back of their heads and even paint large eyes on the back of their livestock, hoping the vicious cats will be confused, finding no clear path for surprise, and simply give up the hunt.
These big, predatory big cats will often change their behavior when they realize they are being watched.
Our great big, ominicient God has, so to speak, eyes on the back of his head. He is always watching us. Ought not this truth cause us to change our behavior? We cannot fool Him, hide our sin from Him, nor surprise Him with our sin. He sees all and knows all.
Next time you think no one is watching, just look up (and look inward!). Give up the pursuit of whatever it is you are tempted to do.
"The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3, NKJV).
"Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ..." (Psalm 139:7, NIV).
Even Small Acts Of Honesty Can Be Huge
Back in 1997 a Brinks armored truck was involved in a crash. It ended up dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars onto a street in Miami, Florida. Witnesses and spectators rushed to the scene — not to help, but to steal! Onlookers, grabbing fists of cash from the street, sidewalk, and gutters, ran from the area, never to be seen again. Others simply found cash and coin after the fact, not knowing when or how the money was deposited there. Police, in desperation, put out an offer of amnesty for any who would return their take of the dumped payload.
Only two people steppef forward:
MIAMI (CNN) -- A mother of six and a school boy are the only ones to have returned money they found in the street after an armored truck overturned in a Miami neighborhood Wednesday.
Only Faye McFadden, who returned $19.53, and 11-year-old Herbert Tarvin, who gave back 85 cents, took advantage of a police offer of amnesty for anyone returning money by last weekend.
Little Herbert said that he had to "do the right thing and turn the money in becuase it doesn't belong to me."
Eighty-five cents. Eighty-five cents out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Doesn't sound like much, does it? And yet it might as well have been millions. Herbert didn't "steal" the change he recovered from the street; he simply found it there. But his heart was to do the right thing.
Sometimes "the right thing" comes in small acts of obedience. It's in the daily, small gestures of honesty and obedience that character is forged.
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much" (Luke 16:10, ESV).
"His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master'" (Matthew 25:23, ESV).
"You shall not steal," (Exodus 20:15, NIV).