Monday, October 10, 2016

Proof

In 1st Peter chapter 2, we can read about our identity in Christ and the purpose to which He has called us:
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

We are created for and called for a purpose.  And, the foremost call that we have is to come into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We have been offered the invitation to come into fellowship with Him, and when we accept that and are saved, then we are called to live a life that pleases God and to view life as a series of opportunities to bring honor to our Savior.  We are called by His name, and we are empowered to exalt His name, that He might be known in the earth.

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1st Corinthians 10 gives some insight into our motivation for doing what we do:
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
32 Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,
33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

We are living in an era where young people need to be inspired to be better, to do better, to set and achieve big goals.  When we sometimes lose faith in adults to do the right thing, perhaps we can have hope in the next generation to actually demonstrate godly character.

There's a 9-year-old boy named William Maillis who has some rather lofty goals for his life. People.com did a feature story on him recently.  This past May, William graduated from high school and is now a college student already working on his own theories of how the universe was created. The article points out that, "Most other 9-year-olds are in fourth grade."

William lives in Penn Township, Pennsylvania, and is said to be among the youngest people ever to attend college.  He is attending Community College of Allegheny County, where he is taking a full load of classes.  He is easing his way into life as a college student and plans to enroll next fall at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  That's according to his father, Peter Maillis, who is a Greek Orthodox priest.

He already has some goals set: he wants to study the physics and chemistry of space, earn a doctorate degree, and work as an astrophysicist. The story says that he "is at ease tossing around concepts like 'displacement of space-time' 'singularity' and 'pure gravity...' He also discussed why black holes aren’t “super massive,” a concept put forward by "other brilliant minds as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking."

The bottom line, according to William:
“I want to prove to everybody that God does exist,” he says, by showing that only an outside force could be capable of forming the cosmos.
The story concludes by saying:
Through it all, Maillis says his son remains grounded. “I just want him to appreciate the gift he has, which I think he does,” Maillis said. "I tell him, ‘God gave you a gift. The worst thing would be to reject that gift and not use it for the betterment of the world.’"
What a great story of ability and accomplishment - a young man who wants to do great things, motivated by a desire to excel in the scientific realm, consistent with a desire to show the world that God exists.  Certainly, he doesn't believe there is a disconnect between science and religion.

And, neither should we.  As believers in Christ, hopefully with a high view of Scripture, we can look at the scientific evidence and be encouraged that it points to the work of a Creator, a Designer, rather than random acts that somehow occurred, resulting in the formation of the earth, nature, and the universe.  God set certain laws of nature in motion that are tested and true and cannot be superseded.  Those in intelligentsia have attempted to provide explanation for how the earth was formed, yet the Scriptures are very plain - "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Of course, as it's been said, if some people were to acknowledge God, they would then have to submit their lives to Him.  They might think that it is easier to say that there is no God so that there is no obligation to follow Him than to admit that He exists and struggle with having to conform to His requirements.  Unfortunately, there are many that say God exists, and even give lip service to Him, without walking in obedience to His ways.  The acknowledgement of God's existence ultimately requires an answer to the question, "so what will you do with Jesus?"  We, of course, have to evaluate our own lives to determine the ways we are not walking in obedience to the One in Whom we say we believe.

A final thought: we can encourage our young people to apply their gifts - helping them to recognize that they are created by God for a purpose.  There is more than just human achievement - for the Christian, we can consider that there is the business of following God's will; using God-given ability to give God the glory.

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