I have a marvelous friend with whom I can discuss the most pointless, answer-less topics. It is great. For instance, a while back we were discussing cuss words, and the power of a word. Suppose you asked someone from another country to teach you a word. As a joke, they teach you a terrible cuss word and tell you that it means something else. Well, every time you use that word, you are speaking a cuss word, but are you cussing? This takes us deeper into the subject: is it the word or the intent? I say intent. Haha, a word means nothing until meaning is put upon it, and that is done by using more words! (I can't help but smile; I love this stuff!) But to follow up on the cussing: if the intent is what makes the word unspeakable, does it matter that we substitute these words with lesser ones? Isn't our intention for the word the same?
So, let's go deeper. I was also mulling over the idea of what makes us, humans, different from animals. There seems to be a lot of answers to that question like morals, principles, intelligence, and the ability to speak. However, if you watch Animal Planet, you can find many examples of families, communities, rules, problem solving, team work, and communication that animals follow as well. I remember this show called "Meerkat Manor". No lie, it was a show solely devoted to the soap opera of a meerkat colony. I challenge you to go past the "superior human" complex and really think about the authenticity of this superiority. Are we really that different from animals?
"LOVE, Amanda, love! We've got love!" you argue.
"Oh yes, love." I reply. "So your dog doesn't get ecstatic at your return? Your cat doesn't purr and rub against you when you enter the room? Does your pet act completely normal after the death of a fellow pet? Do eagles, swans, wolves, and some penguins not mate for life?"
Now, please don't get upset. The purpose of this isn't to make you feel animalistic. There is something special about us. However, I still don't think that we can make ourselves superior to animals; it is the One who made us that does that.
Hebrews 8:10 (which is a reference to Jeremiah 31:33) says, "I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Wow! My favorite part is the last one: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." That makes me excited and comforted. God has declared himself our God! He will be our Guide, our Creator, our Mentor, the Guy Taking Care of Us.
He has also declared us as his people! THIS is what makes us special, God's special attention to us. He will teach us how to act human, the creation made after His own image. He will put into our minds and hearts His wishes. He could have easily declared the meerkats as his people, but instead, He chose us.
Sometimes I feel as if we Christians get too involved with ourselves. We worry about representing God correctly, about doing what He wants, about acting Christian, and about how our actions affect others. Philippians 4:13 is often referenced as a source of encouragement for us during our struggle: "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." I have a funny story to go along with this. Before I went off to college, the pottery painting shop where I worked let me pick out anything and paint it as a graduation gift. I chose a cross and painted it with a colorful floral design to match my bright, tropical room. I wanted to put my favorite verse at the time, Phil. 4:13, on the cross, but my handwriting is as neat as a second grader's. I asked my boss, an amazing artist, if he could please paint this inspirational verse in the center before he fired it. Well, he painted EXACTLY what I wrote down, which was "Phillippians 4:13". Yes, my spelling is as good as my handwriting. So now I have a cross referencing all that we can do through Christ along with an extra "l" in "Philippians". Oh the irony!
I realized that the way we use this verse is actually backwards. It isn't about what I can do through Christ; it is what HE can do through me. It isn't me who leads others to our Lord; it is Christ in me and in them that leads them to Himself. I have changed this verse: "Christ can do all things through me, if He chooses." I am reminded that Jesus is on my side, and He will empower me for whatever He wants me to do. I am also reminded that I am Amanda, and He is God. Suppose I decide to be a Christian singer who spreads the Word of God through her music, but it isn't what God wants. Well, I can sing with all of my heart and repeat Phil 4:13 over and over again, but I won't be able to woo anyone over to the Lord with my tone-deaf voice. God has a plan for all of us, and we have to be willing to let Him work in and through us as He wants to.
Every week, I try to learn a new, fun word. This week's is "anodyne": something that soothes or comforts. God is my anodyne, and "Christ can do all things through me, if He chooses" reminds me of that. God is in control. There is something in us humans that God loves. You could say that we are the favorite child. We have to remember that we are only children, and we have to remember who our Father is. Remember that He DID choose. He chose to be our God, our Father, our Savior, our Helper, our Friend. He chose us as His children.
To me, that choice is such an anodyne...
