January 25

Life

Life’s most amazing gift from the hand of the Father is life itself. As magnificent as any mountain may be, it does not have life. As dry as any desert may be, as overwhelming as any ocean may be, they support life but they are not alive.

We are.

The earth has spun around again so a new day begins. Our hearts faithfully beat through the night as our breathing was steady and deep in restful sleep. Some of us did not sleep well, our hearts beating faster than they should, our breathing shallow and rapid but angels stood guard and the morning came.

Why?

Because life is precious and must be guarded, protected. The business of God’s holy angels is to worship God and to guard the lives of those He has created. They have a life-gift as well, different from ours, but rooted in the same source.

• The beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and teeming creatures beneath the waves have their own kinds of life, also precious in the Lord’s sight, but lives lived for the benefit of mankind.
• The flowers in the meadow or rustling on the hillside speak of the beauty of the Lord’s mind.
• The furrowed fields of grain and the wild meadow and deep forest all sing silently of their life, also from God, but still different from the life of the animal or that of mankind.

We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” in the image and likeness of God. We are not told how breath came to beasts, birds, and creatures of the sea, but we know that our first breath came from our Creator when God “breathed into Adam and he became a living soul.”

We know that we are counted by Him to be worth more than sparrows in frantic flight or flowers who labor not and neither do they spin nor store in barns. Still, they are carefully cared for by our Father. How much more then, will He guard and guide and garrison us?

All of human life is precious in God’s sight, but the innocent hold a privileged place to be cared for by those of us who are guilty but forgiven. When we share this passion with the Lord, we will do what must be done to save the innocent.

Life, God’s greatest gift, demands no less.

Scriptures:
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Genesis 2:7 KJV
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Psalm 145:15-16
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
Matt 6:25-27
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Luke 12:14-15 NKJV
“And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the gift of my life. I am so amazed to think of Your hidden processes that brought human life to me. Yet here I am—Your creation, Your servant. I am Yours—all of me, the good and the bad, the talents You supplied, the skills I humbly offer for Your use. As the old hymn says, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days—let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow in ceaseless praise.” Amen.

Songs:
I Live
Words and Music: Rich Cook

I live, I live because He is risen.
I live, I live with power over sin,
I live, I live because He is risen.
I live, I live to worship Him.

Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus!
Because You’re alive—Because You’re alive—
Because You’re alive I live!

Take My Life and Let It Be
Words: Francis Ridley Havergal; Henry A. Cesar Malan

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days–Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved