GLEANINGS — September 8, A.D. 2013                                                                                                               "Here I rant...er, stand," Part Two

Starting with the analogy of two men travelling on two paths that only seemed parallel, Part One highlighted the danger of diverging from the path that begins in the book of Genesis. That God-breathed, holy book of Scripture bears God's divine authority, and is inerrantly infallible and utterly trustworthy from its very first word. All the rest of Scripture is built upon it. 
Therefore the big bang and all forms of evolution are erroneous belief systems alien to God's word the Bible. And in faithfulness God's word it is good for us to consider how we think about ourselves and the our world. Even though it might be like Venus or Mars in some ways, Earth is the special place where God became incarnate. It is NOT "just another planet." The bodies of human beings and those of animals are similar in some ways, but we alone are made in God's image and to us alone was given dominion over animals. We live within CREATION: God's stunning handiwork, not a chaotic realm of unknown origin wherein random forces interact.
Knowing that the God of creation is also the God of an all-inclusive providence, we continue to think Biblically by abhorring the concept of fortune or "luck." God is not a clockmaker of old who built his timepiece, wound it up, then put it on a shelf in his shop. Providence is God's transcendant and perpetual dominion over every moment and every molecule of His creation. What appears to come about by "laws of nature" (the annual seasons, or the growth of a  human being from conception onward) and what appears to occur "at random" (all the people one sees during a visit to a shopping mall, or where a wind blown leaf lands on the ground) are actually occuring according the eternal purpose and decree of a faithful God.  Let's move to assert that...
Thinking Biblically embraces everything in life. In our society, the term "weekend" usually refers to a period beginning Friday evening and ending sometime before the dreaded Monday morning. Vestigially reflecting a Biblical view of the divinely established week, most paper calendars to this day rightly print the Lord's day (Sunday) in first place, sometimes with red ink. It is the day on which Christ rose from the dead, the New Covenant sabbath. How sad and how detrimental to the general welfare that we have lost the keeping of that day as special (holy), which was the case only decades past! Oh that we  Christians with diligence would count that day as the one to be specially given to God and His worship, the first day of an entire week lived for Him! 
What about our everyday speech? Even Christians are often overheard to say "Oh my God!" for frivolous and petty reasons. The digital age has given us OMG as a text shorthand for the careless use of God's name.  How about small talk's big issue, the weather? Do we realize that every time we hear a neighbor or friend remark about it, God thereby gives us an opportunity to say a word to honor Him? It doesn't matter whether the person's comment reflects like, dislike, or other regarding the present or expected weather...the thoughtful Christian can respond with a word that gives glory to the One Who controls all the weather, all the time!
John 10:12,13 provides the stone for the grinding of our last axe. A minister of the Gospel is not a person "hired" by man (the church) but called by God. Man (the church) recognizes and echoes that call. The same holds true for other ordained men, male exclusivity intended! All people of both sexes ("gender" is a grammatical word) have careers. The word means "course of one's life". A pastor's vocation is not that of a corporate ladder employee, but of a servant  called to humble faithfulness in the post in which he has been installed according to Biblical principles. God's mercy, Christian liberty, the charity of those to whom he is accountable, and issues of health and aging might change the terms of an ordained man's service, but his calling is perpetual...life long. Biblical "retirement" for a minister is departure from this life and entry into eternal rest.