Monday, June 4, 2007
New Paddle
By Pastor Ronnie Wolfe

My granddaughter, who is four years old, came to me carrying a wooden spoon that she had picked up from a set that my son and his wife had just purchased from the store. She walked over to me and proudly announced "Pa-paw, we got a new paddle." So, I took it from her, turned her around, and spanked her lightly on her hips. She pretended to cry, because she knew that I did not mean a thing by what I did.

Isn't it interesting that, when one person looks at something, he sees it completely different from another person who looks at the same thing? For example, when I look at a Bible, I see a book that I love, one that gives me comfort and spiritual food. Others look at the same book and see something repulsive and irrelevant. I look at a church building and see a place where people of God meet and where great fellowship is enjoyed, while others look at the same church building and either never acknowledge it at all or look upon it with contempt as something completely unnecessary. When I look on the creation of this world, I see it as a wonderful miracle of God, but others see it as a natural phenomenon that took at least billions of years to accomplish.

Now, what makes the difference in the two results of looking at the same thing and seeing two completely different things? Well, I think we can take a lesson from the situation with my granddaughter. I looked at the wooden spoon from the experience that I had had and recognized it as an adult as simply a wooden spoon. My granddaughter, not having had the same experience, and not being an adult, saw it as a paddle.

Those who see the creation as a completely natural phenomena are seeing the world from a child's perspective, never having experienced the touch of the Master's hand in their lives, not having had the Spirit of God change them from within. After they have experienced the grace of God in their lives, then they will see very clearly that this world is not a self-made compilation of eternal matter; it is a creation of Almighty God. Oh how much more wonderful the world is when we see it through spiritual eyes! How much more sense it makes when we see it through the eyes of the Adult--God Himself!

Christians, do not become disenchanted by the mere guesses of scientists who endeavor to give the source of the miracles they see every day by crediting evolution. Remain faithful to the word of God. One day we all shall stand responsible for our belief in God. If that faith is true and faithful, then it will remain, and we shall grow into maturity, seeing the world as God has made it and not as scientists have imagined it.

John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Col. 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.