Pennies of Praise

 

12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:12)

A few years ago, I remember reading a short news blurb in USA Today about a Mr. Otha Anders, of Ruston, Louisiana, who spent 45 years bending down and collecting something most of us ignore—pennies.  In October of 2015, the 73-year-old Anders—a supervisor for in-school suspended children–took all the pennies he had collected to his local bank. They filled 15 five-gallon jugs and contained a grand total of $5,136.14. The bank’s coin machines took five hours to count all those pennies! But what’s truly moving about this story isn’t Anders’ thriftiness; it’s his thankfulness.  Each new penny on the ground served as a prompt to give thanks to God.  Anders told reporters: “I became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful. There have been days where I failed to pray and more often than not, a lost or dropped penny would show up to remind me.”[1]

 

Mr. Otha Anders

Wow! When was the last time you were thankful for a penny? That story points out something that can get lost in the never-ending desire for more and more, namely that thanksgiving is a matter of the heart that begins by acknowledging the small blessings from God that may go unnoticed. How different would our state of mind be if we looked for blessings throughout our day the way Mr. Anders scoured for pennies? Those tiny gifts of grace are there if we have eyes to see them, and they will be easier to spot if our souls are trained towards thankfulness. 

Max Lucado offers this insight, “The grateful heart is like a magnet sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude. A zillion diamonds sparkle against the velvet of your sky every night. Thank you, God. A miracle of muscles enables your eyes to read these words and your brain to process them. Thank you, God. Your lungs inhale and exhale eleven thousand liters of air every day. Your heart will beat about three billion times in your lifetime. Your brain is a veritable electric generator of power. Thank you, God. For the jam on our toast and the milk on our cereal. For the blanket that calms us and the joke that delights us and the warm sun that reminds us of God’s love. For the thousands of planes that did not crash today. Thank you, God.”[2]

I think he’s on to something. Being grateful for little things cultivates gratitude in all things. God isn’t just in the monumental moments. God’s goodness is also in the 1,001 “pennies” of blessings He’s dropped all around us. They are there waiting for us to discover, collect and count. How about the sight of calloused hands raised in a church service, the giggle of a happy toddler, the intoxicating smell of freshly brewed coffee, the wagging doggy tail or the purring kitten, sunshine on your back, a song or sermon that cuts straight into your soul. If we fail to notice these blessings, then we fail to notice God’s doting Father tendencies in our lives.

G.K. Chesterton summed it up, “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”[3]  Amen. -DM

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[1] Frededreia Willis, “Man Cashes in Pennies He’s Been Saving for 45 Years,” USA Today, 28 October 2015 <https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/28/man-cashes-pennies-hes-been-saving-45-years/74727160/>

[2] Max Lucado, “An Attitude of Gratitude,” 8 October 2013 <http://www.faithgateway.com/attitude-gratitude/#.VkIN5PmrSM8> 

[3] G.K. Chesterton, The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, vol. 20 (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001), 463.

Pearly Gates

 

I remember reading several years ago about a Filipino fisherman who made an amazing discovery off the coast of the Palawan Islands: a two-foot-long pearl inside a giant clam (26-inches to be exact). The article said that the fisherman took the treasure home and hid it under his bed – not telling a soul of his windfall. Then misfortune struck and his humble home burned down, but the 75-pound pearl survived. His next move was to take the pearl to a jeweler for a big payout. According to officials in the Philippines, the pearl was valued at $100 million!^[1]

Did you know that pearls are mentioned twice in the New Testament? Jesus told a short parable about “the pearl of great price” in Matt. 13:45-46 and in Revelation 21:21 we read that in eternity future, the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are made of a single pearl.

What’s the connection? The symbolism of Jesus’ parable was meant to illustrate how He (pictured as the merchant), paid a premium price to purchase the pearl (a symbol of the church). Just as the merchant sought out the pearl, so too Jesus sought out the church and paid the highest price to claim her, by giving His life on the cross (Luke 19:10; 2 Cor. 8:9; Rom 8:32).

Interestingly, a pearl is a product of pain. Pearls are the only precious gems made by a living organism. A foreign object, such as piece of sand or grit, finds its way into the oyster. The oyster begins to secrete a substance called Nacre to build a protective cover over the object. The pearl cannot be extracted from the oyster until it’s dead. Just so, the Church was birthed from the pain and suffering of Christ (Eph. 5:25).

This insight sheds light on heaven’s pearly gates. The great preacher of yesteryear, W.A. Criswell, once pointed out, “There’s a sermon in those pearly gates. The pearl is formed by an animal in travail and suffering. Moreover, gates provide access. The pearly gates symbolize that our access into the city of God was formed through the suffering of Christ on our behalf. Each time we walk through the gates of pearl, we’ll be reminded that only reason we are there is because of the pain and suffering of the Lord Jesus, whose wounds granted us access to God.”^[2]  

A pearl is taken from garbage to glory. Just so, the Church is taken from the refuse of the world (1 Cor. 6:9-11). A pearl goes from depth to height. Just so, the Church will be raised incorruptible to be with Christ (1 Cor. 15:50-55). A pearl goes from darkness to light. Just so, the Church will shine as a trophy of grace throughout eternity (1 Peter 2:9) and become an item of adornment. A pearl is formed gradually, invisibly and indivisibly. Just so, the Church is being formed over time (1 Peter 2:4-5) and will one day be united in heaven with saints from all ages.

One more thing about those gates, the Bible also says, “they will never be shut” (Rev. 21:25). Praise God! In the ancient times, the main reason to close the city’s gate was to keep intruders out. But in that perfect state there will be no need for gatekeepers because sin and Satan will forever be defeated by the King of Kings! -DM

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[1] Roberta Nass “This $100 Million Pearl Is the Largest and Most Expensive in the World,” Forbes, 10 August 2016 <https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertanaas/2016/08/23/100-million-pearl-hidden-under-bed-sets-world-record-as-largest-most-expensive-pearl-in-the-world/#128273f979b0>

[2] W.A. Criswell, Expository Sermons on Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1969), 130. 

A Fine-Tuned Earth

 

“It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.”  (Is. 40:22)

Scattered through the Bible are examples of prescience—that is, scientific statements made by Scripture that far exceed the general knowledge of the time. Obviously, the Bible isn’t a science textbook, however when it does speak about the creation it does so with stunning accuracy, even before the scientific method confirmed what the Bible already declared to be true.   

For example, in the above verse, Isaiah reveled that the earth was round. The book of Isaiah was written some 700 years before Christ, at least 300 years before the Greek philosopher Aristotle suggested in his book On the Heavens that earth might be a sphere. Two-millennia after Isaiah, it was this and other Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world. He wrote: “It was the Lord who put it into my mind. There is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures.”[1]

Recently, astronomers Guillermo Gonzales and Jay Richards authored the book The Privileged Planet in which they explain how the universe has been fine-tuned for life on earth. Let me cite just three examples concerning the proportions and placement of our little blue orb.

·         The earth is 93 million miles from the sun, stationed in a “goldilocks zone.” If earth were slightly closer to the sun, then most of our water would evaporate and life couldn’t exist. By the same token, if earth were slightly further away, she would be frozen tundra also making life untenable. 

·         Earth is the perfect size too. If she were any smaller, our magnetic field would be weaker and “solar winds” would quickly strip our atmosphere down to nothing so we would end up looking desolate like the surface of Mars. Consequently, if earth were any larger, she would exert a more powerful force of gravity, preventing any water, methane or carbon dioxide from escaping our atmosphere. Indeed, if earth were larger our atmosphere would be thicker, more viscous and oxygen-breathers would suffocate.

·         Then there is Earth’s 23.5-degree axial tilt. This is also key to life because this tilt lets most of the continents experience four seasons. If this tilt were altered to the slightest degree either way, it would cause surface temperatures too extreme for life.

Sir Fred Hoyle, the renowned British astrophysicist and mathematician who popularized “the Big Bang,” spent most of his life as an atheist. Yet when he examined the different settings that regulate our planet and the rest of the universe, he admitted:

“A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with the physics, as well as the chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature . . . The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.”[2]

I like to imagine a huge control panel for all the cosmological constants in the universe. The board is full of dials and settings that can be tweaked – the gravitational force, speed of light, number of stars, etc. When scientists look at the cosmic control panel, they find that every dial, button and leveler has been specifically fine-tuned so that life is possible. Truly, our planet is not some lucky evolutionary accident. A loving, super-intelligent Creator sits above it all.  

Our response should be gratitude, praise, and humility. Next time you feel the warm sunshine on your back, or marvel at the vibrant colors of a Maple tree in fall, or enjoy the sweetness of a juicy peach simply thank Him! -DM

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[1] Ray Comfort, Scientific Facts in the Bible (Bellflower, CA: Living Waters, 2001), 12.

[2] Sir Fred Hoyle, "The Universe: Past and Present Reflections," Engineering and Science, November 1981.

The Bible That Sustained 7 Soldiers

A recent story from Christianity Today told about a well-worn Bible that accompanied seven US soldiers through eleven tours of duty. It began in 1967 when 19-year-old Jesse Maple from West Lafayette, Ohio was drafted into the Army to fight in the Vietnam war. At the time, Maple was living a wild and backslidden life. But then a man with the Gideons gave him the pocket-sized Bible. His mother taught him to respect the Scripture, so he stuck it in his pocket and kept it there. 

It was still with him during one intense firefight when bullets ripped through the pack on his back. One round pierced a can of fruit but left him unharmed. Afterward, Maple was standing there, juice leaking on the ground, when a passing Catholic priest told him, “The Lord was with you today.” Maple immediately thought of the little Bible in his pocket. “You wouldn’t believe what that Bible has been through,” he said. All those close calls and the power of God’s Word converted Jesse into a true believer.  

When Jesse Maple’s tour was done, he gave the Bible to his younger brother Bill as he shipped out to Vietnam. Before Bill left Vietnam, he gave the Bible to his close friend Roger Hill, who also grew up in West Lafayette. Hill wrapped it in plastic to protect it from the monsoon rains and had it with him when he was severely wounded during his final tour. “I still pray to God every day and thank Him for another day,” Hill later said.

The Bible then went to another West Lafayette native, Cliff McPeak, who fought in the Gulf War. Next, it went to Zac Miller, who joined the Ohio Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2004. When Miller finished his initial tour of duty, the Bible was given to another pair of brothers from West Lafayette; they carried it into battle in Iraq and Afghanistan before finally returning it to Miller for safekeeping in 2019.

While that little Bible never stopped bullets or diffused bombs, it conveyed to each man a sense of God’s presence in the midst of the dangers they faced. As Iraq veteran Zac Miller explained, “In very trying times, having that Bible with you gave you a little ease that you were not alone and being watched over by God.”[1]

While ducking in a foxhole perhaps one of those soldiers turned to Psalm 119 for comfort and courage, where they would have read, “You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word. Depart from me, you evildoers, For I will keep the commandments of my God! Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope” (Ps. 119:114-116).

During difficult times we turn to God’s Word, because it is strong enough to carry us through difficult times. Don’t wait until crisis hits to start searching the Bible for a promise you can cling to. Store up the Word of God in your heart and mind before the chaos of life’s battlefield begins to consume you.  

Charles Spurgeon said it better than me, “God never gives his children a promise which he does not intend them to use. There are some promises in the Bible which I have never yet used, but I am well assured that there will come times of trial and trouble when I shall find that that poor despised promise, which I thought was never meant for me, will be the only one on which I can float”[2] -DM

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[1] ADAM MACINNIS, “How Seven Soldiers Carried One Bible into 11 Combat Tours,” Christianity Today, APRIL 20, 2021 <https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/may-june/bible-battle-army-gideon-soldiers-vietnam-iraq-afghanistan.html>

[2] Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1983), 404.