The Gift of Life Celebrating Gods Gifts Larry

The Gift of Life Celebrating God’s Gifts Larry Cline, Hardin Valley church of Christ, 12 -18 -2013

Augustine once said “People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wonder. ”

David wrote:

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, [And] skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. (Psalms 139: 15)

David arrives at this conclusion… Because he first focused on God.

1 O LORD, You have searched me and known [me]. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6[Such] knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is [too] high, I cannot attain to it. (Psalms 139: 1 -6)

Without God, David’s life had NO VALUE

If God didn’t create us (or we didn’t believe He did) we have no reason to believe that we have any greater value than any other living creature.

When that type of thinking takes hold, a society begins to be governed by a concept known as “utilitarianism. ”

Post Nuclear Holocaust Game God condemns that type of thinking… because to God – all mankind has value.

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1: 27) Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2: 7)

22"You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. 23 If you afflict him at all, [and] if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; 24 and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. " (Exodus 22: 22 -24)

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, [and] to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1: 27)

I don’t know if – in this gift exchange of life – I got such a great gift. I mean – look at me: God says that when He wants something done it’s going to be done. 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, ' says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 4: 6)

27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are. (I Corinthians 1: 27 -28)