Three Kinds of People

Blaise Pascal once wrote, "There are three kinds of people: those who have sought God and found him, and these are reasonable and happy; those who seek God and have not yet found him, and these are reasonable and unhappy; and those who neither seek God nor find him, and these are unreasonable and unhappy."

A Not so "Simple Cell"

...the phylogenetic tree is built on the premise that life evolved from a simple cell, but that "simple cell" has yet to be found. Would Darwin have ever even formulated his theory if he had possessed an electron microscope and been aware of the complexity and design of cells too small to be seen by the naked eye?

E. coli is placed on the lowest branch of the tree, assumed to be early in terms of evolution. Invisible to the naked eye, measuring 2 micrometers long and 0.8 micrometers in diameter, it is a marvelous example of design and complexity.

The cell is enclosed within a double wall, or membrane. Within this membrane are about 2,400,000 proteins, 1,800 kinds of molecules, 14,000 messenger RNAs. Add to that 22,000,000 lipid molecules and 280,000,000 small metabolites. All these jostle together in the cytoplasm which is 75 percent water, but they all have a purpose and work harmoniously...

A similar coordination is present in the tiny bacterium. All the proteins and molecules share in its internal metabolism. Their work is encoded in its genes. It is estimated that those instructions equal about ten pages in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Metabolism requires energy, and energy in E. coli is provided by electrical power generated by the cell. An alternative energy source is also available, if required. Electricity drives its external flagella, which rotate like propellers. The "propeller shaft" penetrates through the membrane and into the cytosol by means of a bushing and can propel the little bug at a speed of about ten to twenty cell lengths per second.

Besides this, the direction in which the cell is driven is "computerized." The flagella all rotate together in a counterclockwise direction when the cell is in forward gear, but when its "computerized" sensing mechanism informs it that the gradient to which it is heading has changed, a "switch" is thrown, and the flagella change gears and begin a clockwise rotation. This results in what is called a "tumbling motion," and the cell changes direction.

Of course, I am writing metaphorically. The pictures elicited may be unreal, but the facts are correct. Such is just a brief introduction to this simple cell! (Lyndon K. McDowell, The Choice: Assumption or Assurance? Ministry, 2/2005, p. 17).

God Made All Things Good

A human body... is a masterpiece of exquisite design. Beautifully 'engineered,' it is governed by several hundred control systems—each interacting with the others to maintain perfect overall balance. Man’s brain has 10 billion nerve cells to record what he sees and hears. His skin has more than 2 million tiny sweat glands—about 3,000 per square inch—all part of an intricate network that regulates body temperature. A 'pump' in his chest makes his blood cells travel 168 million miles a day, or 6,720 times around the world! The lining of his stomach contains 35 million glands secreting juices to aid the chemical processes which sustain his life. The marvels of the human body are beyond comprehension!

…Most new products don’t operate efficiently until all the 'bugs' are ironed out... Just think, the first time God put a human body together, it worked! (Excerpts taken from Our Daily Bread, Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, Herbert G. Bosch).

Fellowship with God must never become selfish

"Fellowship with God must never become selfish. We must also fellowship with other Christians in the local assembly. Apparently, some of the wavering believers had been absenting themselves from the church fellowship. It is interesting to note that the emphasis here is not on what a believer gets from the assembly, but rather on what he can contribute to the assembly. Faithfulness in church attendance encourages others and provokes them to love and good works. One of the strong motives for faithfulness is the soon coming of Jesus Christ." -- Warren Wiersbe (The Bible Exposition Commentary, 1989, Chariot Victor Publishing.)

Good & Evil Both Have Their Harvest

"It must be remembered that evil has its harvest as well as good. there is a harvest of misery and woe, a harvest for the gathering , binding and burning of the tares- as well as for the gathering of the wheat into the garner of heaven." -- Joseph Seiss

Midnight-Fire

Blaise Pascal, the famed 17th-century French scientist and philosopher, experienced in his lifetime a personal, overwhelming encounter with God that changed his life. Those who attended him at his death found a worn, creased paper in his clothing, close to his heart; apparently a reminder of what he had felt and sensed in God's very presence. In Pascal's own hand it read:

"From about half-past ten at night, to about half after midnight-fire! 0 God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob - not the God of philosophers or the wise. The God of Jesus Christ who can be known only in the ways of the Gospel. Security. Feeling. Peace. Joy. Tears of joy-Amen!"

Problem of Forgivness

". . . you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart—every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out. The difference between this situation and the one in such you are asking God’s forgiveness is this. In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s we do not accept them easily enough.

As regards my own sin it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are not really so good as I think; as regards other men’s sins against me it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are better than I think. One must therefore begin by attending to everything which may show that the other man was not so much to blame as we thought.

But even if he is absolutely fully to blame we still have to forgive him; and even if ninety-nine percent of his apparent guilt can be explained away by really good excuses, the problem of forgiveness begins with the one percent guilt which is left over. To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian character; it is only fairness. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night ‘forgive our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.’ We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says" -- C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York: Harper Collins, 2001; Originally published 1949), 181-183