17/11/2021
God’s Gift
When Paul was invited to speak before the philosophers of Athens, his limited opportunity forced him to focus on matters of extreme importance. One of these was his emphasis on the origin of life. He confidently affirmed that it is the true God who “gives to all life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). Later, in a letter to his young friend, he will remind Timothy that the Creator is the one who “gives life to all things” (1 Tim. 6:13).
How shocking it is that arrogant man, the persistent rebel, should assign the astounding phenomenon of “life” to a mere quirk of nature. To the disciples of Darwin, the commencement of life was but a “spontaneous” freak happening in some slime pit of antiquity.
Isaiah delivered a blistering rebuke to the haughty ones of his day who chided, “He [God] made me not” (Isa. 29:16). One of England’s top scientists, Sir Fred Hoyle, once compared the accidental development of higher forms of life to the probability of a tornado roaring through a junkyard and assembling a 747 jet plane.
There are a couple of prime implications involved in the realization that life is a gift from God.
First, human life is a sacred essence, bequeathed to those who are made in the very image of the Creator himself (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6). No person has the right to arbitrarily take the life of another person. Only the Lord himself can authorize such an action (cf. Josh. 6:21). Let those who labor under the illusion that a woman has the liberty to destroy her pre-born child contemplate that issue with the greatest of gravity.
Second, when one reflects upon the fact that his life is a gift from heaven, he cannot but ponder the purpose of his existence. Isaiah declared that man was fashioned to glorify his Maker (Isa. 43:7). Why, then, do millions live as if Jehovah has no claim on them?
Solomon seems to have explored the meaning of his existence in the waning days of his life—as set forth in the book of Ecclesiastes. In retrospect he surveyed the folly of his youth, as he aimlessly sought for some “key” to happiness. Every “under the sun” (i.e., earthly) solution that he sought proved to be a dead end. Ultimately, he concluded that the purpose of life is to reverence God, and submit to his commands (Eccl. 12:13). In no other way can Adam’s children find contentment.
Treasure your gift of life. Use it to extol your Creator. In such a pursuit you will discover that which is blessed—both in time and in eternity.
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