Pastor’s Position

I notice more and more that our culture seems to be continually obsessed with the matter of preserving their youthful looks, keeping an unstained image and wanting perfection in their lives. The explorer, Ponce de Leon, was longing to find the “Fountain of Youth”, and his journeys brought him to, what is now, Florida to find it. He wanted to drink from this source so that he could be restored in his health so to have a youthful appearance virile strength.

People are scrambling after the right foods to eat, the perfect vitamins to ingest, the right oils, lotions and potions to smear on, or the perfect sculpted body to give them a super image. The amount of resources, anxiety, loss of time, and negative self worth is tremendous. This comes out of an empty soul, one that is void of purpose and meaning, a spirit that does not grasp the depth of God’s love, a person that sees no worth in their self. When we look inward we usually don’t like what we see and will go to any length to try to fix or fill up the emptiness.

The Psalmist refers to God as the only thing that fills up the void. By proclaiming the Lord to be majestic and over all things on earth, he is realizing that his own existence is noticed by God and that there is fulfillment in the praising of the Almighty. He writes, “O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your Glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise….When I consider your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?…….O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the Earth!” Again he records, “For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord. I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord and profound your thoughts.”

It is in God that we find our complete fulfillment. He is supreme in everything and to know Him, to be in Him, is absolute satisfaction. When I am satisfied with whom He is and what He has made of me and in me, then I will not be so totally preoccupied with myself. I am not fixated on preserving this old body of mine because I see a higher destiny that God has put in me. He sees me through and through and is enamored with what he has made. Therefore, my image is based on what God sees in me. I realize that I can hardly compete with what God has made and to continue to cut, copy and paste is, in the end, futile and a waste of time, energy and money.

When we look to the Lord we see that He is pleased and there is nothing extra I need to do or can do to improve on that. I find fulfillment in knowing God through Jesus. That is the best enhancement that can be made on me.

Your servant,

Peter