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Revealed by Nature

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Have you ever experienced the love of an animal?

Written by GodLife on 19/01/2013
Series: Weekly Devotional
Tags: Creation, God, Love
"Ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities — His eternal power and divine nature."(Romans 1:20)

Have you ever experienced the love of an animal? I have pet cats, and like many pet owners or people who work with animals, I know that they can be very affectionate. When my cat loves me, I praise God for His wonderful Creation and for sharing His love with us through animals. Do you ever see God’s love because of interaction with nature? It is fun to praise Him when we can witness the amazing world He has made.

Loving Creator God
God made a marvelous universe, and He has a miraculous plan to redeem all Creation. The Apostle Paul preached to the wise people of Athens, “He is the God who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24). Not only did He create everything, He loves it, too: “You care for people and animals alike, O Lord ”(Psalms 36:6). Jesus told us that “not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it”(Matthew 10:29).

Our Reaction to His Creation
What are we to do with the beautiful and useful handiwork of His? God instructed His people to be in charge of the animals and to care for the earth. God said people should “Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground” (Genesis 1:28). He told them, “You must not defile the land where you live”(Numbers 35:34) .St. Paul wrote, “Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12), which goes along with the Biblical wisdom that “The godly care for their animals” (Proverbs 12:10).

Reconciling All Creation
God has miracles in store for His people and His creation. We know it, and God lets His creation be aware, somehow, too – St. Paul wrote about how God’s “creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay”(Romans 8:21) . So we can rejoice that the Lord has chosen to let us live in and care for His wonderful world, and that through Jesus Christ, “God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross” (Colossians 1:20).

Pray this week:
To thank God for His amazing Creation and wonderful plan.

How can you be more aware of God's amazing creation throughout your day? Talk to someone about your favorite place in nature or your favorite animal.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Four Steps to Study People in the Bible

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How can studying people in the Bible affect my life?

Written by Ruth on 29/01/2019

Series: Weekly Devotional

Tags: Bible, Disciple, Disciples, Teaching

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

1 Corinthians 10:11

Why are the stories about different people in the Bible important to study? Studying the people in the Bible is a great way to be encouraged in our walk with Jesus.

Step 1: Pick an interesting person

One of my favorite people in the Bible is Andrew. Who is Andrew? He was one of the first two disciples of Jesus! Most of us only know him as the brother of … well, we will get to that later.

Step 2: Find all references to them in the Bible

We find Andrew mentioned in: Matthew 4:18-19; Matthew 10:2; Mark 1:16; Mark 3:18; Mark 13:3-4; Luke 6:14; John 1:40-44; John 6:8; John 12:20-22; and Acts 1:13. 

In chronological order, the first time we meet Andrew is in John 1:40 when he was still a disciple of John the Baptist. But from Matthew 4:18-19, we also know he was in business with his father and brother, and that they were partners with another father-and-sons family.

Step 3: Read the whole story

In many of the other verses above we simply read that Andrew was one of Jesus’ disciples. But John 1:40-44 again tells us that Andrew and his friend (we know this was John, the one who wrote the Gospel of John), were the first to follow Jesus. Jesus calls them to be His full-time disciples in Matthew 4:18-19. Before this, Andrew had done something very special – when he learned that Jesus, a man he already knew, was the promised Messiah, he ran to tell his brother this good news. His brother was Peter! 

Does it seem unfair that Andrew, the first one to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, was not ever asked to write one of the books of the Bible? He wasn’t the great preacher his brother became. In fact, the only other time we read of something Andrew did is in John 6:8-9 when he brought a boy to Jesus, a boy who had something Jesus used to feed a crowd estimated to be at least 15,000 people (the 5,000 is the number of men and does not count the women and children).

Step 4: Identify and apply the lessons to your life

How often do I think only important or big things are valuable to Jesus? Andrew is known only as the one who brought Peter and a little boy to Jesus. Yet, the impact from these two he brought is very great. 

Andrew did not share in importance with Peter, James, and John – he was not one of the “inner circle,” those who were closest to Jesus. That, however, did not make him less loved by Jesus.

As you study different people in the Bible, notice the things they did right as well as the things they did poorly. Pay attention to how they reacted to failure as well as to success (we often learn more from our mistakes than from our triumphs). How did they interact with others around them? Be careful not to read your own feelings into the verses. We must understand these people were just as human as we are, and they made mistakes just like we do. The Bible says that the “things that are written” are there to be examples for us (Romans 15:4).

Pray this week:

Lord Jesus, help me to be content with the place, the person, the significance of whom You have created me to be.

How satisfied are you with who you are? Talk to someone about it.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member