Simple Thoughts: God is Creative

Just look at that picture. How can you not say God is creative? My daughter said it looked like the bug was on it’s way to a Halloween party.
There is no limit to His originality.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8)

In this picture there are four different kinds of peppers. That’s just peppers, and it doesn’t even come close to the number of pepper seeds available for growing.
There is no limit to His intended uniqueness.(*)

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds,” And it was so. (Genesis 1:11)

The first picture was a bug. The second picture was food. This picture is beauty. God is not confined to a certain medium.
There is no limit to His skill set.

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these,” (Matthew 6:28-29)

Simple thoughts to ponder.
Because God is creative, He is worthy of all praise.
Because God is creative, He is not limited to work in a single scope of life.
Because God is creative, He can be so in our lives. When it (anything from circumstances, to diagnosis, to why He made us the way He made us*) doesn’t make sense, He may just be thinking outside the box.
Because God is creative, when I am creative I reflect that I am made in His image.

* With today’s culture being as it is, I wanted to make sure that my words were not taken out of Biblical context. God is creative and has no limit on His creation, except that which He created with limits. For example, He created man and woman. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them,” (Genesis 1:27). There is a clear distinction between the two genders. Also there is no Biblical support for transgenderism, bisexuality, or homosexuality. These are sins and go against God’s will. “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion, (Romans 1:24-27). (For a greater explanation on these issues check, out these posts Answers: Transgenderism (part 4) Answers: The Nuclear Family (Part 5) In the uniqueness I mention in the blog, I am referring to personality, eye color, skills, talents, and experiences. All things which God has created to be unique for each individual.

Answers: America is hungry (Part 1)

Because of The Cross–Forgiveness

A Completed Work

Simple Thoughts: Sin’s destruction

Of all the garden lessons God taught me this summer, this one had the clearest visual.

Sin kills us spiritually.

Like these tomato plants dying from a blight, sin kills.

The mind of sinful man is death, Romans 8:6.
For the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23a.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned, Romans 5:12.

Sin masters us.

Like this cucumber plant that is taking over the area, sin can take over our hearts and thus our lives.

let no sin rule over me, Psalm 119:133.
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” John 8:34.
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity–for a man is a slave of whatever has mastered him, 2 Peter 2:19.

Sin affects others.

Just like these moldy strawberries spread the mold, sin infects others.

Cain in his sin killed Abel. Genesis 4
Amnon in his sin raped his sister, Tamar. 2 Samuel 13
Peter in his sin denied Jesus. Matthew 26

Sin multiplies.

Do you see those little dots? They are eggs that when hatched will produce more beetles that will eat and kill my plants. Like those bugs, sin breeds more sin.

“O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sis are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens”, Ezra 9:6.
“My wound fester and are loathsome because of my folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; al day long I go about mourning,” Psalm 38:5-6.

Praise God He’s got a remedy for sin.

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 1 Peter 3:18.

Don’t let sin destroy your life.

Simple thoughts: Timing

Lessons from a Cranky, Old Farm House–Opportunities

Because of the Cross–Freed From Sin

Simple thoughts: Timing

Although it’s not gardening season, these winter months provide time to finally write about all that God whispered to me as I grew food for family and friends over the summer. One of those simple thoughts was about timing.

And this raspberry plant was the perfect teacher. Not all the berries ripen at the same time. Some fruit ripens early. Some fruit ripens a couple days later. Some fruit even takes its sweet time and ripens a couple weeks later. If the berry is picked too early, it’s not edible. If it’s picked too late, it’s not edible.

Well, like the raspberry plant, the fruit in our lives needs perfect timing too. Just look at Abraham.

Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD?
I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son,” (Genesis 18:13-14).

Oh, they had waited a long time for these words, but 25 years earlier, when God first promised them a son, wasn’t God’s timing to fulfill the promise. The fruit wasn’t ready yet. So they waited.

But picking unripe fruit isn’t the only problem people have. They can also miss the time for picking.

Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed…”Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him…And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith, (Matthew 13:54-58).

I always feel bad for these people. They missed out on the fruit that could have been theirs. Throughout the book of Matthew the phrase, “Jesus healed,” (4:23, 8:16, 12:15,15:30) is used repeatedly to describe the extensiveness of Jesus’s ministry of healing. But those in His hometown missed out on seeing God do miracles in their sight.

The time to pick passed them by.

Abraham had to wait for the timing to be right. The people of Nazareth missed the right timing. But Jesus, he nailed it!

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).

After Jesus made this statement, He gathered up his disciples and began his earthly ministry.

What God whispered to me that day in the garden: Don’t be impatient with the fruit you see developing in your life. Let it complete the ripening process. And don’t miss the fruit that is ready for picking right now. Having three kids in the home won’t come around again. Trust my timing; it’s always perfect.

Jesus Above All Week 1

Cultivating a Heart for Jesus in Your Toddler (part 1)

The Glory of God in the Spring