Heart & Soul
Ben Patterson
October 1, 1996
Twenty-eight thousand pounds at birth! That's what Dr. Bernard Nathanson
estimates we would weigh if we continued to grow throughout gestation at
the rate we grow in the first two weeks of life. That's how steep the trajectory
of cell division is.
Add to this biological tumult the unimaginably intricate and precise processes
of organization that take place during this time, and the picture is
breathtaking. Everything from the ability to hit a baseball to the swirl
of cowlicks to the sound of a person's laugh are fixed into place. In magnitude,
the change is comparable to a tsunami; in complexity, to the transformation
of winter into spring. The first two weeks of life may be the most important.
But the real glory and mystery of it all is that it takes place on a scale
that is microscopic. The grandest, most awesome stage of human life is, for
all practical purposes, invisible.
How like God. He likes small things. Resisting the proud and giving grace
to the humble, he can be found in two places: one high and lofty, the other
among the lowly and contrite (James 4:6; Isa. 57:15). And since none of us
can get up that high, it is wise to stay down low.
So we do the "little thing"-we pray for his kingdom to come; we don't bring
it in. Oh, the conceit of prayerless activity! P.T. Forsyth said our worst
sin is prayerlessness, because of what it says about who we really think
is in charge of the church and the universe. God save us from the people
who would renew the church and bring justice in the world without praying.
Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power, they are more
dangerous than the wrongs they would set right. They will replace old evils
with new evils, themselves.
I know, ...
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