Observing Life

Do you observe life?  I mean by that, do you watch what is going on around you?  Do you look and listen to others to see and hear how they are reacting or responding to what is happening?

I always have and it has been one of the things I enjoy doing.  I can remember back in the day when we went to the mall to shop.  It wasn’t a big deal for us to go and Elaine shop. Of course, now things have changed, and malls are not as popular, but Amazon is and I know we shop it a lot.

Women are different than men in this way.  Men hunt, that is we know what we need and where it is at. So we go hunt for it and if it is what we want, we buy it.  Women are not that way and as a woman Elaine liked to shop.  Go in and look, touch, compare and even try on something before or even if she bought it.  That type of commitment takes time so when we went, I would often sit outside the store and observe people.  One time I bought a book that I was hunting.  While there I read the book while she shopped.

When you are observing, you can see and hear a lot of different things.  Parents with kids, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, and just friends together.  What they are doing and even how they are doing it can be very interesting.  Why?  Because we are all different and have those things and ways that make each of us unique.  God made us that way.

You’ll remember Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV-

²⁶ 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 thing that creeps on the earth.” 

²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Verse 27 describes mankind as an image of God, a representative figure, an image resembling and fashioned to be like God.  That does not confer upon mankind to be a god.  Rather to be representative of Him as created.  We are made in the image of God.

He made us male and female, but we are all different. Not all men or women are the same.  There is a uniqueness about each of us.  Regardless of race, sex, nationality or any other factor, we are all different and thus unique.  To make the point I have always said that is why there is chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  Elaine’s favorite is dark chocolate, so we always have a stock in the freezer.  I like it but I also like Neapolitan.  You know chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  Currently though there is none in the freezer.

The Psalmist noted in Psalm 139:13-14 NKJV that-

13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered (wove) me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

As you dive deeper into the observation of people, you also learn that there are people who are not like you.  Now please understand. I am talking in so many different directions as to the differences.  Age, ethnicity, education, interest, religious beliefs and he list goes on and on.  So, it is very easy to see that observing people can and is quite a lot of work.

I think I know what you’re thinking, why can’t everybody be like me?  Good question to which there are obvious answers but if there was one thing we all have in common it would make things a lot better.  You know where I am going with that don’t you?  True faith in Christ unto salvation by God’s grace.  Not saying it or observing some religious tradition.  Truly following Scripture and accepting Him as Lord and Savior.

Is it that simple?  Yes, it is and yet we know from everything we observe and from Scripture that that will never happen.  You’re probably saying that you wish it could and I am with you on that wish.  However, it is clear in observation that not everyone will and thus we have the world we live in each day.

Please understand there are some good people in the world, but they are not Christians. Many people identify as Christians.   Saying they were born in a Christian home.  They live in a Christian country.  They have attended church. They are benevolent, caring and trying to do the right things.  Trusting that those are things that would get them into heaven.  I hope you are not someone like that today.  Because I want you see what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV-

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 

²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 

²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

I can’t go on without pausing and again being very clear on what it is to be a Christian. 

John 3:16 NKJV are the words of Jesus Himself-

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Why would God do such a thing?  Well, Jesus answers that question in the next verse-

¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Don’t make this hard.  It is simple in that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for your sin and then to be raised on the third day.  God wasn’t and isn’t condemning this sin obsessed world. He did this so that through Christ the world and all mankind might be saved.  Your choice but know that God has done all that is necessary for you to have eternal life with Him in His new heaven and on His new earth.

Every day I observe a lot of things.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Sounds like a Clint Eastwood movie title but it is great representation of what is happening all around us. 

I don’t understand why people reject Him but I know they do.  I do know why mankind can hate and despise others. It is sin and it is propagated by the devil and his demons.

You don’t have to be a Christian to know this but it something that if your honest with yourself you can say that is true.

As Christians we are told in Ephesians 6:12-

¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

Now those same principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness exist and affect all mankind.  For the Christian, it represents spiritual warfare.  For the one who does not know Christ, the effect is just as damning as it impacts their life to separate them from the truth. 

If you go back to the text in Ephesians and read verses 10-11 you will see that it says-

¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 

¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (scheming) of the devil.

As a Christian, we are to put that armor on and if you don’t know Christ as your Savior, I would invite you today to do so.  Because then, as every believer, we are instructed in verses 13-18 to-

¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 

¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

 ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

 ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

So, as I observe all that is going on today, I as a Christian find great peace and solace in God’s provision.  Things aren’t getting in better, but they sure are able to be dealt with as a Christian.

In God’s Grace,

Elbert Nasworthy