I serve the LORD, the God of Heaven.

We are nothing without Him, and we have everything in Him.

As small as atoms are to oceans, our planet is to the universe, and the universe is to God, and He is more. One pixel of the night sky contains billions of galaxies never seen before, each with billions of stars that dwarf our own. If the sun was twelve metres in diameter, the earth would be a golf ball. If a star called Canis Majoris was twelve metres across, you’d have trouble drawing our sun in comparison to it with the tip of a pin. The insignificance of even one of our lives cannot even be measured against such an infinite existence that surrounds us. Truly, who is man that He should care for him? The son of man that He should be mindful of Him?

God is holy, perfect and just. Never once faltered, never once failed. He has not lost control of anything. Heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool, and He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything. Who has first given to God that God owes him? Everything is His, and every breath we breathe is borrowed from the Creator. He is infallible in wisdom, and omniscient in knowledge. He is the only standard of true absolute morality. Eternal and unchanging, with rights over everything. Nothing goes by unnoticed from His eye, nothing can falter or thwart His plan, His purpose, His sovereign will.

We, specs of dust, rebelled Him. We bit the only hand that could truly feed us, and searched for scraps in the world. Stale bread and dirty water, we found our comfort in depravity and sin. Our eyes were sewn shut by lies. A lie is something preferable to the truth: we love sin and hate God. And no one wants to be accountable for their guilt and shame. Our socially constructed moralistic ideas, subject to culture and time and personal differences, collided against His absolute standard of holiness. He would not budge to submit to us, so we rejected Him. Our standards of what’s wise and what’s right contrasted with His, and we were too scared, or more likely too proud, to admit that we were wrong and mistaken. We’re lord and we’re right! Everybody’s a theist, only for most their god is themselves. Pride is digging a ditch and thinking you’ve built a tower. Everybody thinks they’re pure, but such false purity is only pride that stains the self-righteous character. It’s like you’re bribing a judge with a pretense of selflessness as you offer him money for your release; you’re guilty of a crime and a bribe. Everybody feels good standing next to Hitler or Stalin, pointing at the news and saying, “They’re bad!” But a white sheep is filthy standing next to the snow, and our ‘good’ deeds are filthy rags to a perfect and holy King. In fact, we’re no differing to Hitler or Stalin, Satan or demons, our sin is the same: mutiny against God, neglecting His glory. We’re dead in sin, slaves to sin, and we don’t deserve a second to live. Any second we do is totally grace. We never gave back the breath that God gave us, we stole it. Truth is, we’ve got nothing to be proud of. But our own gods are ourselves.

So where were you when the foundations of the earth we set? Did you prescribe the limits of the oceans? Can you command the wind to blow the sails of ships? Tell me, have you walked on the mountains deep under the sea? Did you place each planet in orbit, and can you call out each star by name? Can you breathe life in the cells in your body? Where were you when the cornerstone of earth was put in place? Do you know its measurements? Did you put the water in the sky? Do you know the number of hairs on your head?

We need Him. He doesn’t need us, but we desperately need Him. ‘God is a crutch’ is an understatement. He’s a life-support machine, we’re dead without Him. But we’re too proud to admit it.

Who is man that God should care for him? Who is man that God should be man? God shows the cares of His heart in that, while we were yet sinners, He died for us. His love was not based on anything in us, because there is nothing to love, only to hate, about human beings like us. So there is nothing to boast. But His love was so great, His love was so strong, purely of grace. He climbed up a middle eastern hill, covered in scars and the flesh torn off His back, carrying a huge wooden cross to die on. Three nails and a crown of thorns, but that was not it. The full wrath of God, furious and real, burning with hatred was poured out on Him to pay for every rancid sin against Him. Personally. “You were bought with a price.” There is no worth within you, no significance to catch His eye, and only sin to repel Him - but by grace alone, you are bought with a price.

But not only does it reach there. He interrupts your life, opens your eyes sewn together with lies, opens them to see the truth of His beauty. He gives you new life, rebirth in His life. There is nothing we could do that’s deserving of Heaven, but He gives us all blessings in Heavenly places and seats us next to Him in Paradise. He comes and joins with our spirits and says, “I am the resurrection and the life; the only way, the only truth, the only life.” He becomes our food, the Bread of Life, that satisfies forevermore! Whoever drinks of Him will never be thirsty again! He gives us His holiness and righteousness, justified and blameless, purified and He sanctifies us. He never ceases to do good to us, and never will He leave us. His presence is with us to the very end of the age. We will never walk alone! He becomes our Brother, our Friend, our Comforter and King. Our Father, our Teacher, our Saviour and Lord. Completely of grace, even faith is a gift! He crowns in royalty and calls us His sons, co-heirs with Christ in His Kingdom. So riches we heed not, nor man’s empty praise, but He is our inheritance now and always. We serve Him because we love Him. We are not regimented, we run to Him. Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Yet every single befit pales in comparison to knowing Him, fellowship with Him, and adoration of Him. He is our God and we are His people, and He is with us for all of eternity.

None of it deserved. All of it grace.

I serve the LORD, the God of Heaven.

Soli Deo gloria,
God bless!