"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:3)
We know there are certain fundamentals to any foundation of beliefs. There is always something that, if forgotten, can radically change the way we live and believe. One such element of the Christian faith is found here in our text for today: "All things were made by him . . ."
In our walk with Christ we must realize that everything we see, everything we touch, even the air we breath was and is made by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is something that cannot be forgotten or the very fabric of our faith will begin to unravel and we will, be left with a bunch of loose ends that have no explanation. Without this belief in the "omnific" nature of God, the question can be posed: "Why would Christ love us enough to die for our sins?" It couldn't be because we could repay him, there is nothing that we can do to earn salvation. The Bible gives us a simple explanation: ". . . thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." He loves to see his creation live, to watch them exercise their abilities that he has created in them. It is recorded that he played with the Leviathan, because he loved to watch him [Job 41].
There are other facets of our lives that are effected just by forgetting or even compromising on this issue. Once the belief that Jesus is not our Creator is taken out of the way, then why should we listen to his words. After all, if he did not create us, why should we obey? Why should we live holy? Why should we do anything that he says? Then there is the whole "one God" thing. If he didn't create us, who did? Perhaps some other god, or maybe we created ourselves. You see where we can wind up if we start doubting that God is our Creator. We are left adrift in a sea of ideas, theories, and doctrines of man, tossed to and fro on these raging and ever changing waters. God warns of becoming such a man as this. We read in James the first chapter: "For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (Vs 6-8).
There is one sure way to keep ourselves founded upon the sure foundation of the apostles, Jesus Christ himself being our chief cornerstone. That is to fill our hearts and minds with the infallible words of our Lord, Creator, and God, Jesus Christ. You see, the more of the word we have in us, the bigger the seed grows. Eventually, it grows to the point that we start realizing that the knowledge contained within those pages is more real than anything we can see, touch, or taste. As a matter of fact, it is more real than you and I, because it is eternal. God's word will never fail nor fade and anything that is eternal is more real than something temporal. The more we read the more we will believe for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." That is the only way to make sure that we never ever lose our footing on this true foundation. If at some point we do falter or stumble we can, as the Psalmist, acknowledge our sin, repent of them, and seek the will of God. "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped . . . My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever . . . it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works." (Ps. 18:2, 26,28) |
