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Jump Start # 3221

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3221

Psalms 147:4 “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.”

The other morning I woke up very, very early. Sermons, classes and people were swirling around in my mind and I just couldn’t sleep. So I got up.  I looked out of the window into the blackness of the night. I noticed how bright the stars were. The sky was very dark and the stars were very bright. Where I live there are very few lights in the neighborhood. My attention was drawn to those stars. Such a beautiful sight. I thought of our verse today. God counts the number of the stars. God names the stars.

Just how many stars are there? I had to look that up. There are about 200 billion trillion stars in the universe. That’s a 2 followed by 23 zeros! Now, what’s that like? If you could count one star per second, it would take you 23 straight days, counting nonstop around the clock to get to that number. And, somehow, I expect there are more stars than that.

Some lessons for us:

First, we see the great wisdom of God. Not only does God count all those stars, He has names for them. How does God come up with that many names? And, most of those names are known only to God. I don’t think we could come up with 200 billion trillion (which is also called 200 sextillion) names. There are only 616,500 word forms in the English language. In essence, we don’t have enough words in our language to come up with 200 sextillion names. There are more stars than words…that is for us. Not for God!

Second, until modern times, many of the stars were undiscovered by humans. God knew they were there. God placed them there. But until the advancement of deep space telescopes, many were not observable. So, for those early disciples, they had no idea about so many of these stars.

So, why did God create deep space? Why put stars in the universe that would never been discovered for thousands of years later? Could it be that the solar system is an image of God. We never fully understand how great, large, powerful our God is. There is never an end to our God.

Third, much of the light that we see from stars were sent before we were even born. Light in space is measured by “light years.” Light year is not about time but distance. Light in space travels 186,000 miles per second or 9.46 trillion miles a year. One light year is 9.46 trillion miles. So when we look up at night and see the stars twinkling in the night sky, we are not watching in real time. The closest star to us, Proxima Centauri appears in the night sky as it was four years ago. It is more than four light years away from us. In essence, we are looking into the past. A star that is 100 light years away, sent the light long before you and I were born. The light from that same star won’t be visible to earth for another one hundred years.

If all of this in mind bogglingly to you, that’s just exactly right. All of this is amazing.

Fourth, God used stars throughout His divine Word. Abraham was told that his descendants would number like the stars. When Jesus came to earth as a baby, a star shone for the shepherds. In Revelation, Jesus is called the bright and morning star.

And, with all this discussion about stars, can you imagine what Heaven will be like? As detailed, vast and brilliant as the solar system is, can you imagine the beauty of Heaven? If God put so much detail in a solar system that most never saw or understood, can you imagine what God will do for our home in Heaven?

If you haven’t done so in a while, put on a coat, go out on a clear night and just look at the stars. Amazing. And as impressive as stars are, God thinks you are more important. You are made in His image. The stars are not. Jesus died for you, not the stars. Sometimes, living in cities, we can’t see the stars for all the man-made lights. We lose a connection to the creation and to God.

God names the stars. More impressive, God knows your name. Can’t you just see God tossing the stars across the universe, like a little girl tossing flower pedals at a wedding?

Simple thoughts from a restless night, but what a profound image.

Roger

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Jump Start # 3220

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3220

Luke 8:14 “And the seed which ell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”

Our verse today, from the Lord’s parable about the sower, illustrates how God’s word can be shut down and made powerless because of what we invite into our hearts. Worries, riches and pleasures are weeds that take over. They grow aggressively within us. And, before long, the Word of God has no place within us. Rather than letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within us, as the apostle wrote, it dies. It dies because of a heart tangled with thorns, thistles and weeds.

The word ‘worry’ comes from an old expression that means to “strangle.” The text states, “choked.” Crowded out. Pushed out. Squeezed out. No room. That’s the idea. And, the reason it got that way was because of a heart that pursued the glitter of this world. The riches, the pleasures and the worries that follow, filled a life and a heart and the word could not find a place.

Let’s think about this idea of “choked out.”

First, what doesn’t grow are the things that ought to grow. I see this illustrated every spring and summer in my place. We have lots of flowers. I have to weed often, very often. And, when we are gone for a week or so, what a mess we come home to. The weeds take over so fast. I don’t want weeds. I want flowers. What ought to grow, can’t because of the weeds. The same is true spiritually of us. God’s word ought to fill our hearts and we ought to be growing more and more like Christ. Our character should reflect kindness, grace, love and forgiveness. Our hearts need those things. We develop those from a steady diet of God’s word. But when our time is taken with riches and pleasures and then we worry about those things, those precious qualities of Christ are squeezed out. We find ourselves not as kind as we once were. We find our selves occupied with the present. We see ourselves in a hurry to get worship over so we can do the things we want to do. And when the weeds take over, it’s not a pretty sight. No one compliments me on the weeds. No ones says, “love the weeds, Roger. You’re doing a great job.” Most times, I’m embarrassed for anyone to see the flower gardens until I have worked and worked in them.

Second, weeds grow fast. Weeds will grow when nothing else will. Have a drought, the weeds will grow. A real rainy season? The weeds grow. Hot? The weeds grow. Cold? The weeds grow. If you leave the weeds, when you get back to them, you have so much more to do. They multiply fast. No one plants weeds, they just seem to pop up over night. Riches, pleasures and worries work the same way. They keep us up at night. They fill our conversations. They become our dreams. Our lives become obsessed with riches, pleasures and worries.

Third, there is a way to deal with weeds. You have to get them out of the garden. Pull them. Spray them. Dig them up. Put down preventatives. Put down plastic. I’ve done it all. It’s a battle. Winter is the only relief. And, spiritually, it’s the same way. You can’t take your foot off the accelerator. You have to stay at it. You have to push yourself. You have to be alert. You have to be diligent. You have to get that Bible open. You have to get down to the church building for worship. You have to work and work and work. If you don’t the weeds come and the good things get choked.

Fourth, it’s a disaster spiritually when God gets choked out of our hearts. Will the riches get us to Heaven? Nope. Will the pleasures do it? Nope. Will worry help us? Never. And, when God is no longer the center of our lives, we travel without a compass. We are blown every which way. We chase every fad. We believe every pied piper. The advice of friends becomes more important than the word of God. The trends of today mean more to us than God does, when a heart is choked.

The solution in all of this is to make room. Something has to go. Some things don’t belong. Some things are not helpful. Pull the weeds. Say “no,” to self and others. A beautiful heart can turn ugly because of the weeds allowed to grow within it.

Choked…not a pretty sight. Maybe it’s time to do something…maybe it’s time to pull some weeds

Roger