When you pray for object lessons and ways to see God's Word in action, don't be surprised if He answers your requests through situations that require immediate attention on your part.
Yesterday was a not-so-fun day on the farm front. I awoke to a nanny in distressing labor who had tried to deliver her kid but was struggling. So... I quickly became a goat obstetrician and had to insert myself into the situation. I'll spare you all the details, but I will tell you I am ordering some elbow-length gloves should I have to get involved in this way again in the future. Sadly, the baby did not live and I couldn't tell if the mom had another kid needing to come out because she still seemed to be in active labor. All day. I rearranged my workday to be near to her... to watch her and care for her... to be immediately available should she need help again. And after a full day of unproductive labor, we took a trip to the local vet clinic for an X-ray (which revealed no other baby) and some meds to help her move through the rest of the process. My time yesterday... sitting with my momma goat... caused me to consider a couple of things...
I considered Genesis 1:26 that reads: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping that creeps on the earth'."
When you have dominion over something, that means you are in charge of it... it is your responsibility to care for it because it belongs to you. Some use the word dominion as a sense of superiority or supreme control. Those definitions aren't wrong; but even still, if something is under your care or within your control, it is your duty to do with it what you should... to care for it and to treat it as He would treat you. After all... He has dominion (supreme authority) over us. I also considered this...
When you are made in someone's image (genetically speaking), that means you look like them, at least, in some ways. And when you spend time with the One in whose image you have been made, you end up with similar tendencies... behaviors... ways of acting and speaking that show to whom you belong,, or maybe I should say... by whom you have been influenced. As I cared for my goat yesterday, in her distress and discomfort and her coming despair of not being able to nurse her baby... I thought about how He cares for me in my predicaments. I thought about how He hears my cries and comes to my aid... how He handles me with care when I need it...how He jumps in when necessary - like how He inserted Himself into my situation and sent His son to save me from my sin. If He tells me I am made in His image... if He has dominion over me... if He came to rescue me when I couldn't rescue myself... then shouldn't I do the same with everything over which He has given me dominion? Shouldn't I treat everything I have just as He treats me? And now, I pray you would consider...
Consider the One in whose image you have been made. Consider the cost of what it was for Him to come and rescue you. Consider what your life would be like without Him and consider the life He promises if you only answer his invitation. Consider giving Him your heart today and letting it change the way you see the world around you.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." - Philippians 2:5-8
Commenti