That God may be glorified

Daunting "assignments" a Christ follower: to speak as one speaking words of God, and to serve as one serving by God's strength.

I am tempted on this last day of 2020 to say, "Goodbye, and good riddance!" To look forward to 2021 with some nebulous hope that it will be less chaotic than 2020. I immediately remind myself, however, that all days are gifts from God, that each moment I live and breathe is opportunity to shine the light of Jesus and in so doing, to glorify God.

We are called to "go," and to speak the gospel to those who have not heard it. And it is by His strength and the Holy Spirit that we witness, proclaiming: "Jesus Christ is Lord!" We are also called to fellowship, and to encourage one another as we wrestle with the challenges of this world.

As Peter wrote in his first epistle, it is God Who provides words of eternal value, Who strengthens us for His service. May the coming year ... each day of it ... find His bondservants in passionate pursuit of His will in our lives. May God be glorified in all we say and do.

All things came into being by Him

Take a look at the beautiful hummingbird pictured above. This tiny bird’s wings beat from 50 to 80 times per second—a testimony to God’s incredible design, caught in a split-second of time.

In real time, we only see a blur as this remarkable creature darts about too fast for us to fully appreciate its exquisitely engineered performance.

When you look at the world around you, do you ever wonder about the things that are happening just beyond the boundaries of what you can see, hear, and touch? How much of God’s workmanship do we miss? We know that secular scientists "miss" big time, as evidenced by the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs, that man evolved from apes.

I have come to love the monthly magazine and website offered by the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) in Texas. This organization of scientists who are Christians is a great source of information and encouragement for me, "making the case" in an understandable way for God's supernatural creation.

On more than one occasion the tiny hummingbird has been the focus of a lesson about God the Creator. ICR zoologist Frank Sherwin points out in “Hummingbirds by Design” that when a hummingbird draws nectar from a flower, we can marvel at how both bird and plant were crafted for each other.

The Creator carefully constructed the flower in just the right way to feed the tiny creature: “These flowers seem uniquely designed to accommodate a hummingbird’s beak and tongue….God designed the hummingbird’s bill and tongue to drink nectar from flowers many insects wouldn’t be able to access.”

Mr. Sherwin also highlights "the sophisticated design of the hummingbird’s metabolism, vision, and vocalization. Every part of this tiny bird points to the genius of Christ."

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being by Him." John 1

(Photo by Craig Kerns. To read more from ICR, visit www.ICR.org)