God's Grandeur (Lent) - Tuesday, March 6
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."
Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
It is difficult to express God's presence throughout history and, therefore, why we should be laying up treasure in heaven. So, I turn to a poet to do so:
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
--God's Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins--
This poem was written in 1877 as a love song declaring the handiwork of God versus the negative influences of man. As we find ourselves further and further from the Garden of Eden, our worlds falls further from the perfection God made. But we have the assurance that Heaven is still perfect and constantly renewed, never having been sullied by the hands of sinful men.
It is in this place where our treasure is safe and waiting for those who believe in Jesus as their Savior.
Thank you, loving Father, for the promise of eternal life in your perfect creation through the faith we have in your Risen Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.