Tag: importance

Through Heaven’s Eyes

Landon Bryant

Have you ever felt worthless? Or at the very least unimportant? 

These are very human thoughts and feelings. It doesn’t take very long in scripture to find numerous examples of how God values the people in his kingdom. 

Just a few examples being: 

Matthew 10:29-31, ESV “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Or Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭3‬ ‭NASB2020 “The Lord appeared to him long ago, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you out with kindness.”

And last but not least, Psalm 139:13-14 NIV, NASB “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

With that in mind, I want to tell you about a movie I used to watch as a young boy. 

The Prince of Egypt is an animated children’s movie that attempts to tell the story of the Exodus. As a kid I just thought it was a good movie and never really understood the biblical aspect of the story. Watching it again with children of my own now gave me a fresh perspective. 

Here are the lyrics from one of the musical numbers in the film, and I want you to think about how this might apply to your own life. 

THROUGH HEAVEN’S EYES

“A single thread in a tapestry

Though its color brightly shines

Can never see its purpose

In the pattern of the grand design

And the stone that sits on the very top of the mountains mighty face

Does it think it’s more important than the stones that form the base?

So how can you see what your life is worth or where your value lies?

You can never see through the eyes of man. 

You must look at your life, Look at your life through heaven’s eyes

‬‬ A lake of gold in the desert sand Is less than a cool fresh spring

And to one lost sheep, a shepherd boy is greater than the richest king

If a man loses everything he owns, has he truly lost his worth?

Or is it the beginning of a new and brighter birth?

So how do you measure the worth of a man?

In wealth or strength or size? In how much he gained or how much he gave?

The answer will come to him who tries, to look at his life through heaven’s eyes

And that’s why we share all we have with you, Though there’s little to be found

When all you’ve got is nothing, there’s a lot to go around

No life can escape being blown about by the winds of change and chance

And though you never know all the steps, You must learn to join the dance

So how do you judge what a man is worth, By what he builds or buys?

You can never see with your eyes on earth, 

Look at your life through heaven’s eyes

  • Through Heaven’s Eyes: By Stephen Schwartz. 

Another way of saying this is that it’s about perspective. We all have a purpose, whether we have found it yet or not. We are made in the image of God. The alpha and the omega, the one who spoke everything, literally everything, into existence. No matter how broken this life becomes nothing in this world can take that away from you. 

Don’t count yourself out on any grounds. Just because you can’t see how you are supposed to shine in this brightly colored tapestry of Gods people doesn’t mean you aren’t as important as any other of those threads around you. 

Design And Efficiency

Sunday’s Column: Learning From Lehman

Darrell Dubree

For everything there is a designer. There is an expected level of efficiency for the product that is created or designed. Or maybe labeled as its intended purpose or job. Just for example purposes these parts are out of a 400-ton, Carrier Centrifugal Water-cooled chiller. Running at peak efficiency and full load this machine in a residential setting would have the cooling capacity to condition the air for 100, 2400 square foot homes or 240,000 square ft. of living space. Each part performs a specific job that will add to the final efficiency that the designer planned for the machine. Each part has a different monetary value. The impeller is $10,000 and the Main Processor board $5000, but the individual electronic parts that make up the board $1 or less at Radio Shack.

All the parts are equally important in reaching the efficiency the designer intended for the machine. In this particular machine and many other microprocessor-controlled machines, there are sub level microprocessors that are controlling a specific function in the overall operation of the machine. These sub level processors are constantly collecting data and communicating to the main processor. They are content with all that is going on and all is well, or they are requesting a change or an adjustment in their area of operation. The main processor contains a micro chip which contains the designer’s operational software. In order for all the boards to communicate efficiently and effectively they must all be operating with the same operational software.

The operational software sets the parameters and adjustable setpoints which the main processor will use to grant or deny changes requested from the sub level processors throughout the machine. The main processor will take all these requests into consideration. The main processor will compare to the operational software and make a decision based on the operational software and the overall operation of the machine.

For example, depending on many variables and conditions the machine has to be considerate of the overall operation and keep the machine online and efficiently operating. Some request are granted or denied, depending on different operating conditions and stress on the machine. Stress being the difference being, operating on a 70-degree day with no humidity or starting from ground zero on a 100- degree day and a building full of miserably hot people.

Most of you look kind of interested, but some of you have the look of, I’m trying to get my brain wrapped around what your saying. What does this have anything to do with me as a servant of God???? 😊

Let’s compare this principal to the local body of servants of God. Actually, there are many similarities.
Designer: God
Operational Software: Gods inspired word, The Bible.

Main Processor: The local Eldership Sublevel Processors: Deacons Other parts: Members
Just as parts of this machine, all members are equally important in the efficient operation of the body (1 Corinthians 12: 14-31).

Furthermore, the Bible teaches that:

  1. God looks at the heart, not the physical appearance (1 Samuel 16:7)
  2. God shows no partiality (Romans 2:7-11).
  3. Good knows our hearts (Luke 16:14-15).

As we strive to fulfill the work that God intended in his design of the church. May we consider one another and take into consideration all the members and different areas of work. Just as the main processor of this machine considers all areas of the machines operation before a change is granted. How will this request affect the body short term and long term. Will it edify and build relationships or will it teardown and slow the work and efficiency of the body. The doctrinal decisions are the easy ones. We have had centuries of biblical scholars who have taken these apart and reassembled them. It is the non-doctrinal decisions that are difficult. Those we are forced to address in a situation that we have no former experience in dealing with. Hopefully passages like Philippians 2:1-18 will help us in this.

In any recipe or in smooth operation of machinery, there is that secret additive or ingredient that makes it just perfect. God has given us something far greater than a secret lube additive or a special secret ingredient to a recipe: Love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). Hopefully these passages will help us all perform the work of the church efficiently.

a 400-ton, Carrier Centrifugal Water-cooled chiller

“You’ll End Up Naming Everybody On The Team”

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Neal Pollard

Quirky closer (a redundant statement) Sean Doolittle was interviewed last week right after the Washington Nationals clinched the city’s first trip to the World Series since FDR was first inaugurated there. Asked how they did it, Doolittle said, “I think once you start naming guys that stepped up in different ways, you’ll end up naming everybody on the team. We got so many contributions from different guys who had to embrace new roles. There are so many examples of that up and down this team” (MLB.COM). That’s frequently the testimonial of winners. It takes everybody pitching in and doing their part, All-Stars or role players, starters or reserves, veterans or rookies. However you distinguish between them, each person must step up and successful teams do just that!

Have you thought about how the church was designed to be that way? Congregations successful in executing the mission of Jesus are filled with members who step up in different ways, make contributions, embrace new roles, and exemplify team spirit. Paul tells us that “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:15-16). Notice the all-inclusive wording of Paul, pointing out what Jesus desires for His church. “Grow up in every way…” “From whom the whole body….” “Held together by every joint….” “When each part is working properly….”

God expects each of us to step forward, using our talents, opportunities, financial blessings, influence, time, energy, and intellect to reach lost souls, strengthen the church, and meet needs. A church filled with people stepping up and embracing Christ’s mission will stand out in a community and glorify God. We will grow and be built up. 

In 1895, Vilfredo Pareto observed that society divided into what he called the “vital few” and the “trivial many.” There is a top 20% and a bottom 80%. From such a genesis, we ultimately got the 80/20 rule, that 20% of the people in an organization do 80% of the work (Explained here: FORBES.COM). Maybe, we’ve heard that so much that we’ve just resigned ourselves to it being a universal truth. Do not be content until you discuss the growth and work of this church, and by the time you’re done “you’ll end up naming everybody on the team.” That’s the goal! Let’s pursue it!

 

DETERMINED TO GET OUT THE NEWS

Neal Pollard

I spoke with our newspaper deliveryman this morning, and he had some story to tell.  He summarized his experience as the longest 15 hours of his life.  He got stuck once and had been towed twice.  He delivers his newspapers in a 2014 Toyota Camry, a front-wheel drive vehicle fighting against 10-12 inches of snow in a thousand cul-de-sacs.  Surprisingly cheerful, he was plodding on until finishing his task—delivering The Denver Post to every customer on his route.  That, my friend, is dedication!

As a former subscriber to the Rocky Mountain News and current subscriber to the Post, I cannot describe his product as “good news.”  With the internet competing, the newspaper is far from the exclusive or timeliest source of news.  That notwithstanding, this man is determined to get out the news.

The gospel is, by definition, “good news.”  Without a doubt, it is the most important and timeliest news of all time and eternity.  Every person needs to be exposed to it as it contains information that will impact where they will spend their forever.  God has given the job to you and me and every Christian in this nation and around the globe. Every day, we see people and relate to people on their everlasting journey.  They may or may not be oblivious to their need, but we are well aware of it.

Are we determined to get out the news?  The first century church was.  In bad times (Acts 8:4) or in good times (Acts 2:47), the news went near and far.  Paul described it as news which had reached every creature under heaven (Col. 1:23).  Christ commissioned that the news be spread to that extent (Lk. 24:44ff).  The challenge is great today, with over seven billion people on the earth.  But we have more resources than they did, and there are more of us, too.  The difference, then, may be the level of our determination.  Until we are determined to let nothing stop us from getting out the news, darkness will eclipse light and our challenge will grow.  Let’s let nothing stop us from sharing the great salvation of Jesus to everyone we meet.