I love art. One of my favorite mediums is stained glass. Over the years, I have collected many pieces and have them on display on my patio. And do you know why stained glass is so expensive and so beautiful?

First, because of the variety of colors and the amount of work that goes into cutting and shaping each piece. It is a time-intensive medium.  It take time to select each color and texture not only to fit that particular portion of the total story but also to complement those pieces around it. Also, the more pieces in a work of stained glass, and the smaller those pieces, the more complicated it is to create and therefore the more expensive.

Second, even though we can appreciate the craftsmanship of a stained glass anywhere, it was designed for one purpose. To have light to penetrate it. Only when light shines through this work of art does its true beauty resonate. 

Let this be a lesson for all of us.

I know we all want simple, uncomplicated, and easy lives—although we will gladly take all the high points, such as promotions, victories, marriages, etc. What we don’t want is to have to deal with difficult relationships, health issues, financial problems, or any other complication or disruption. But life does not allow us that, and as hard as this is to say and hear, a beautiful work of art uses both the light and the dark colors. All light colors can be pretty, but it doesn’t have the depth and dimension of one with a broader palette.

God is not only the master potter but the master artist too. Every piece of “glass” in our life was carefully chosen (or allowed) and then carefully cut, smoothed, and fitted into the whole picture. No matter how small. Not only were we wonderfully created our lives are wonderfully made.

But there is one more important piece to remember. The light.  

The Bible tells us that without the saving knowledge of Jesus and his sacrifice to redeem us, we are left in darkness. And as such we will never be able to make out what our life is all about. We know about all the individual pieces but we can’t see how they all fit together.

But Jesus is the light. With him shining through the disparate pieces of our lives — both the bright spots and the dark ones — we can see the entire piece and the beauty of our life—in him—shines through. 

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8a

As we go through our days and experience the ups and downs that is life, let us remember that these pieces do all go together to create something beautiful if we will just let God’s redeeming light shine through us. 

Today we, as a nation, turn 250 years old—young in the world of nations.

Iran and Egypt go back to 3200 BCE (still BC in my book) and 3100 BCE respectively while Japan has seen the longest unbroken imperial lineage dating back to 660 BCE. At least we have Australia beat. They’re only 125 years old.

But 250 years is a long time in the world of democracies. In fact, the U.S. is the oldest continuous democracy in the world—the Great Experiment—the first nation to be founded on “Enlightenment ideals” rather than a “monarchy, dynasty, or shared ethnicity.”

But each generation worries that our nation might not survive. Laura Bush addressed this when she said “Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals—yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us, and it is each generation’s responsibility to continue that work.”

It is good for us to remember the work of our forefathers and -mothers and our responsibility to our country and its ideals, but it is far better to remember our duty to God and what He calls us as a nation to be and do-- and the reminder that God not only establishes nations but also judges and destroys them.

A nation is supposed to establish justice, protect the vulnerable, and maintain order (Romans 13:1-7). They are to protect the weak (Proverbs 31:8). They are to act with righteousness (Micah 6:8).

But above all, nations are responsible to God. 

"Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth" (Daniel 4:17)

And in Jeremiah 18:7-10 we find the vivid reminder of both God’s forgiveness and his judgment:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

So let’s do our part. Let’s do as we are commanded to do and pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2) and live godly lives (1 Peter 2: 11-17).

Our nation’s health depends on it.

There is a saying — “the devil is in the details” —meaning that while the overall concept may seem simple, the execution isn’t because of hidden complications or problems that come up as you try to implement the smaller elements.

That saying was actually derived from the saying “God is in the details” which means that when a person takes time and care on the small things, they are often rewarded with a masterpiece.

But the truth of the matter is that GOD is definitely in the details. We saw it in the specificity of all of his building projects and now in Leviticus we are seeing it over and over again. 

It’s easy to just get mired in the minutia that is Leviticus because it is a book of laws but on closer look these laws are all to make the Israelites holy and healthy. It deals with both the spiritual and the physical. It required hygienic washing and quarantining long before anyone else did.

God is always about the details. Just look at the planet we live on—created specifically to support life and the only planet in a position to view and study the universe. 

And what about the human body? Forty-six chromosomes in almost every cell of the body (mature red blood cells and platelets do not), and the body has anywhere from 30 to 36 trillion cells. Then each of these chromosomes carries a DNA strand which carries hundreds to thousands of genes and each of those genes has a unique set of instructions.

The rest of nature is no different as you can see in the picture above. Beautiful detail.

So if you think God doesn’t care about the details in your life, think again. He definitely does. He is all about details.

And if you think Leviticus is a dry book of rules, then look again, for Leviticus is the book that just keeps on giving. 

Leviticus is proving to be quite the revelation. Chapters 1 through 7 all deal with the various offerings (burnt offering, grain offering, fellowship offering, sin offering, and penalty offering). 

My first thought was that there was a lot of sacrificing that needed to take place, and a lot of animals and grain. It also took a lot of time. Time to find a suitable sacrifice and then to prepare and offer it acceptably. I looked up why there were so many sacrificial requirements and here is what I learned. 

First and foremost, these sacrifices provided a tangible way for the people of Israel to draw near to God, to bridge that divide between sinful man and holy God. Second, it was a way to show thanks to God for his mercy and provision. 

By the time I concluded chapter 7, I was very glad I was born on this side of the cross. 

Because as Dr. Jeremiah said in one of his recent sermons, Jesus made the final sacrifice and now the Holy Spirit bridges that gap. No longer do we need to have a priest interceded on our behalf. The Holy Spirit (the third member of the Trinity—so God) is always with us, always hears us, always helps us, always comforts us. 

However, sometimes I think living on this side of the cross can make us forget how great the divide that exists between sinful us and almighty and holy God truly is. We can often take God’s goodness and closeness and mercy and grace for granted. 

There was value in having to take the effort to find and prepare the sacrifices. Doing so caused one to focus not only on the reason for the sacrifice (repentance or thanksgiving) but also on what a great, powerful, and Holy God we serve. 

Romans 12:1 states “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

As we offer ourselves up each day, let us take the time to remember all that God has done for us: His forgiveness, grace, mercy, provision, protection, . . . and thank Him for it.

Last week I wrote about God’s exactness in his building projects—that He doesn’t make mistakes and His creations are designed perfectly, exactly how He wants them to be—exactly how he wants each of us to be. 

However, there is a danger in resting in that exact spot—to assume that the perfect blueprint is the end of the story. Because, as all of us know, the blueprint is just the beginning. Now the structure must be built. So to use the excuse that because God made me a certain way justifies me to live the way I want is flawed. We cannot live in sin or in self-pity or in self-deprecation or self-aggrandizement.

As John 9:3 reminds us about the man born blind, he was born blind “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” And that is the exact reason all of us are born to the specifications God prescribed. So that God’s glory and strength can be revealed in our lives and through our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Paul had his thorn in the flesh. Mary Magdalene suffered demon possession. Peter was impetuous and self-sufficient. Some of us are born with genetic propensities for addictions and some for mental illnesses. Some have physical limitations and others mental. 

But just as the architect has a purpose for every building he designs, so God has a purpose for each one of us even with our limitations: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10).

Finally, the building project begins under the careful supervision of the contractor. No building can build itself. For us, God is not only our architect but also our contractor. He oversees the process of perfecting us. In fact, He has promised to see the project to completion: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Therefore--
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Embrace who God made you, for He does not make mistakes. You are wonderfully made.

Embrace your purpose, made specifically for you in advance.

Embrace your journey as God moves you toward perfection.