Thursday, August 1, 2019
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. Romans 11:33-36
With all due humility and respect to the
popularity of Walt Disney, Tim Rice, and Elton John’s Circle of Life
song in the movie, Lion King, what they give us is merely wisdom from the
underside of things here on earth; they don’t begin to scratch the surface of
the circle’s source. The real
circle of life begins and comes round to Heaven.
The apostle Paul rarely stuttered like
Moses. When the little, ugly student of
Gamaliel, (Paul may have been a slow learner, but he turned-out to be quite a scholar)
wrote his letter to the Roman Christians, his small, twisted stature, poor
eyesight, and thorny side faded into the background as he gave us an eternal
glimpse into our beginning and ending.
Bowing to the omniscient wisdom of JHWH, Creator of all, the apostle
unfolds the simplest, most profound truth about the circle of life: it begins with God, continues to exist
because of God’s will and power, and does not simply repeat until it destroys
itself…but returns unto God bringing glory, honor, and unending praise to its
Maker – quite a circle!
But God has a much higher plan than live –
deteriorate – die – rot in the ground to become fertilizer for the savannah grass,
and be re-born as a well-fed antelope (only to be eaten by the next generation of
lions). With that existential philosophy
(even less appealing than Akuna-matata), you’ve got nothing more to look
forward to than the African proverb that whimpers:
Every morning a gazelle awakens to the reality that he must outrun the fastest lion or be eaten today, while every lion awakens to the reality that he must outrun the slowest gazelle or starve today. Either way the dawn brings running.
And that’s the whole difference between
philosophy and theology; with man’s philosophizing circle all you get is
running, and someday being outrun.
When it’s theology – God thought – it’s
about living; we are created by Him, and we live
for, and in His good and glory, and eventually go to Him,
the giver, sustainer, and purpose of all life.
That’s a circle you can live with!
For You Today
You were created with a higher purpose
than retirement to become gazelle food.
With a Creator and Savior like that, what’s not to love?
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Title Image: Pixabay.com Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from
The
New Living Translation©
