Some would dismiss me as a hopeless sentimental, others would call me just a little bit weird (or in Kentucky-speak “Touched”) but I am the kind of guy that gets super excited when I encounter something I have spent a lot of time studying. For instance just ask my friends how I reacted when I got to tour (The retired) Air Force One! As I walked down the aisles of the plane where Presidents had walked and stood on the spot President Johnson had taken the Oath and gazed at the place President Kennedy’s body once lay I was overcome by a sense of awe.
Tonight I decided to take a walk and look up at the stars. And as I walked I began to think… “So often my Faith just doesn’t feel right.” OH don’t get me wrong, I know what I believe but its just that disconnect between knowing and feeling that gets me.
As someone who was raised in a very fundamentalist Church environment stiffness was a part of Worship. Always dress up (Girls can only wear skirts), Have a pair of ‘Church Shoes’ shined and ready (You wouldn’t believe how many pleas for help God received on any given Sunday morning when I had lost my shoes), and always always be on time. But despite this upbringing there was one thing that every good Baptist church did faithfully and that was the ‘Alter Call’. Now I must be honest I do find some theological problems with this practice (which is why I don’t utilize it when I preach) but it did show me one thing: The value of feelings.
Feelings. Isn’t it interesting how a man will hold to his convictions in the face of immense evidence simply because he feels it is right? And yet when I consider the Gospel, there are times it feels right and then there are other times it doesn’t feel right (even though I know it to be true).
It was in this mindset that I found myself in whilst I walked beneath the stars and the first thing I thought of as I gazed and these dancing points of light above my head was “What a wonderful Creator I serve!”
God the Creator:
Think of it. A thousand dancing points of light, a billion blazing suns, each with planets or their own orbiting these balls of flame and yet beyond these are billions more. To see these stars and deny a Creator is pure insanity. Romans 1:20 tells us that mankind is “without excuse” before God’s throne because His existence is clearly seen in the creation. But this is not the condition I find myself in. The state of my mind is less of a denial and more of an apathy. When I gaze at the stars I know that the Creator is amazing but can I feel it? I see His handiwork but do I realize it?
It is one thing to give the Creator of the blazing beams of light credit for His creation it is another entirely to live like you believe this.
A Glimpse of Grandeur
As I contemplate these stars a thought hits me… “I wonder how hot they are?” I mean think about it… each of these is a likeness to our own sun, blazing, beaming, and burning. The heat it emits must be immeasurable. And though I know of heat (I’ve felt the sun upon my back and held my hands above a crackling camp fire) I cannot feel now. But I can know of its existence… How? Because in the depths of night, (though the sun does not shine) in the wisps of cold (though I have no fire to warm myself by) I can feel what I am missing. The lack of light reveals the lesser lights, the lack of heat reveals my need for warmth. My breath on the air shows the want of higher temperatures. While I gaze up at the Big Dipper I get a Glimpse of Grandeur.
In the same way, though I may not feel the presence of God I can understand my need for Him. Not by the feelings of fullness but by the pang of emptiness.
CS Lewis described mankind's rejection of the Grace and Joy offered us by God as being “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” And yet it is in those mud pies that we may stir up our desire for more. While we roll the mud between our fingers we may discover that we cannot merely be satisfied with a slum and then when we cast our gaze up to the stars we catch but a glimpse of God.
A Need For Him:
As I walked back to toward the house the countryside and beautiful view of the stars was now interrupted by the lights of our house and as the view faded I began to realize: The feelings are there. The feelings are there, they are just not fully revealed.
More often then not we are distracted from the greater things by the simple and trivial comforts in life. How often our porch light obscures a view of the stars? And how often our phones rob us of the joy of our family? How often does a distraction of this world become our focus and our relationship with Christ becomes our footnote?
On of my favorite songs is Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher. “Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You. My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You.” Oh how these words become true day after day. Oh how this plea becomes my own. Let us never cease to gaze at the stars and marvel at our Creator. Let us never cease to taste the chill of the evening and realize our need for warmth. And let us never allow the distractions of life to draw us away from our need for Christ.
Tonight I decided to take a walk and look up at the stars. And as I walked I began to think… “So often my Faith just doesn’t feel right.” OH don’t get me wrong, I know what I believe but its just that disconnect between knowing and feeling that gets me.
As someone who was raised in a very fundamentalist Church environment stiffness was a part of Worship. Always dress up (Girls can only wear skirts), Have a pair of ‘Church Shoes’ shined and ready (You wouldn’t believe how many pleas for help God received on any given Sunday morning when I had lost my shoes), and always always be on time. But despite this upbringing there was one thing that every good Baptist church did faithfully and that was the ‘Alter Call’. Now I must be honest I do find some theological problems with this practice (which is why I don’t utilize it when I preach) but it did show me one thing: The value of feelings.
Feelings. Isn’t it interesting how a man will hold to his convictions in the face of immense evidence simply because he feels it is right? And yet when I consider the Gospel, there are times it feels right and then there are other times it doesn’t feel right (even though I know it to be true).
It was in this mindset that I found myself in whilst I walked beneath the stars and the first thing I thought of as I gazed and these dancing points of light above my head was “What a wonderful Creator I serve!”
God the Creator:
Think of it. A thousand dancing points of light, a billion blazing suns, each with planets or their own orbiting these balls of flame and yet beyond these are billions more. To see these stars and deny a Creator is pure insanity. Romans 1:20 tells us that mankind is “without excuse” before God’s throne because His existence is clearly seen in the creation. But this is not the condition I find myself in. The state of my mind is less of a denial and more of an apathy. When I gaze at the stars I know that the Creator is amazing but can I feel it? I see His handiwork but do I realize it?
It is one thing to give the Creator of the blazing beams of light credit for His creation it is another entirely to live like you believe this.
A Glimpse of Grandeur
As I contemplate these stars a thought hits me… “I wonder how hot they are?” I mean think about it… each of these is a likeness to our own sun, blazing, beaming, and burning. The heat it emits must be immeasurable. And though I know of heat (I’ve felt the sun upon my back and held my hands above a crackling camp fire) I cannot feel now. But I can know of its existence… How? Because in the depths of night, (though the sun does not shine) in the wisps of cold (though I have no fire to warm myself by) I can feel what I am missing. The lack of light reveals the lesser lights, the lack of heat reveals my need for warmth. My breath on the air shows the want of higher temperatures. While I gaze up at the Big Dipper I get a Glimpse of Grandeur.
In the same way, though I may not feel the presence of God I can understand my need for Him. Not by the feelings of fullness but by the pang of emptiness.
CS Lewis described mankind's rejection of the Grace and Joy offered us by God as being “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” And yet it is in those mud pies that we may stir up our desire for more. While we roll the mud between our fingers we may discover that we cannot merely be satisfied with a slum and then when we cast our gaze up to the stars we catch but a glimpse of God.
A Need For Him:
As I walked back to toward the house the countryside and beautiful view of the stars was now interrupted by the lights of our house and as the view faded I began to realize: The feelings are there. The feelings are there, they are just not fully revealed.
More often then not we are distracted from the greater things by the simple and trivial comforts in life. How often our porch light obscures a view of the stars? And how often our phones rob us of the joy of our family? How often does a distraction of this world become our focus and our relationship with Christ becomes our footnote?
On of my favorite songs is Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher. “Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You. My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You.” Oh how these words become true day after day. Oh how this plea becomes my own. Let us never cease to gaze at the stars and marvel at our Creator. Let us never cease to taste the chill of the evening and realize our need for warmth. And let us never allow the distractions of life to draw us away from our need for Christ.