Friday, August 4, 2006
I keep telling my wife that I'm expecting Tarzan or George of the Jungle to come swinging through our house any time now. She's set up a corner of the house as her own personal little jungle to accommodate the new guests in our house - our orchids. My wife has found some sources for orchids that are pretty reasonable, and she's really been enjoying collecting some in recent weeks. They're very stately. They come in some beautiful shades of lavender, purple, red, yellow. (Now, please don't write to us and ask us about orchids. We're just learning about them.) I will tell you that my favorite gardener is doing her best to create the kind of conditions those delicate flowers are used to; warmth in the day, cooler temps at night, light, pure water, humidity. Orchids are tropical plants and they're often found in out-of-the-way places; which poses a fascinating scenario: millions of these spectacular flowers over many centuries, displaying this exotic beauty where no one may have ever seen it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unappreciated Beauty."
Those orchids tell us something about what the Creator of us all is like. He's extravagant in creating beauty - deep in remote jungles, deep beneath the sea - where much of that beauty is never seen. That happens with people, too. In fact, there's probably someone listening right now who is a uniquely beautiful person - even though few, if any, have ever appreciated that beauty. An orchid doesn't need an admirer to be beautiful. Beauty unappreciated is beauty still the same.
God really did do something beautiful when He created you. First, because you are created in God's own image. The Bible tells us that "God created man in his own image ... male and female He created them" ( Genesis 1:27). The Bible goes on to say that God knit you together in your mother's womb - that you are "fearfully and wonderfully made" ( Psalm 139:13-14). You may not have been treated like you're a divine masterpiece (you may not have even believed it yourself) but that doesn't change the fact that you are. God only does masterpieces.
Unfortunately, we've all made the mistake of trying to find our worth in other things: a relationship, a marriage, our children, our friends, our success. But there's never enough love, never enough approval. Here's why. Colossians 1:16, our word for today from the Word of God, reveals that "all things were created by Him and for Him." The "Him" is Jesus Christ. And you were created by Him. You were created for Him. The Bible also makes it clear that we haven't lived for Him. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray," it says. "Each of us has turned to his own way" ( Isaiah 53:6). Our beauty, our worth are rooted in the One who made us. And we're away from Him because of a lifetime of self-serving and sinful choices.
I'm so thankful that God loved us too much to leave it that way, though. He launched a very costly rescue mission. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to actually lay down His life in exchange for ours. To put it simply, you did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying for it so you could cross the awful sin-canyon between you and God and experience the love you were made for. And the One who gave you your worth. Suddenly, with Him in your heart, you know who you are - someone worth so much to God that He made you in His image and paid for you with His blood.
You've been looking a long time for a love and a worth that only Jesus Christ can give you. And today you can actually begin your personal relationship with Him and finally be complete. What it's going to take is your act of faith - telling Jesus, "I'm pinning all my hopes on You and what You did when You died on the cross for my sins. I want to belong to You, Jesus, from this day on."
I've got some information that I think will help you begin this personal relationship with Jesus. It's at our website, and I want to encourage you to check it out. Just go to yoursforlife.net. Or you can call for my booklet about it called "Yours For Life." Just call toll-free 877-741-1200.
When you find Jesus, you really find yourself, too. Because you discover how very loved you are.