Thought for Today
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? 5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
Malachi 3:16 Then those who revered the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and thought on his name. 17 They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them.
Romans 9:21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use?
Galatians 4:10 You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years.
What does it mean to be special? What makes something or someone special? Is there some quantifiable metric by which being special can be measured? Specialosityness? How many units of specialosityness are necessary to be considered special?
Were I to write that each day is special because I wake next to Greta, you might roll your eyes, dismiss what I write as romantic blather and ignore it. So, I will not write that. However, your dismissiveness does not negate the truth in what I might have written but will not write.
Were I to write that each day is special because it is a gift from God, you might roll your eyes, dismiss what I write as ‘preacher talk’ and ignore it. So, I will not write that. However, your dismissiveness does not negate the truth in what I might have written but will not write.
How is something or someone made special? What does it mean for someone or something to be special? At its heart, I believe that is what the psalmist was asking. The psalmist saw that human beings are special to God. Why? Malachi saw that human beings are special to God. Malachi offered a suggestion that our being special to God is because we are God’s children. Inherent in the Epistle to the Romans is that same idea, that God determines the specialosityness of God’s creations. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians also speaks of special days, concerned that those young Christians might have lost sight of God in their celebration of certain special days associated with false idols.
I have mentioned often that I am a Calvinist. One of my favorite themes in Calvin’s writings is the idea of signs and symbols. As I understand his idea, it is that there are things that are special not in and of themselves, but because of what they represent. Sometimes, there are things and people who are special because of what they represent.
I wear a silver cross around my neck. The cross is a very special thing for most Christians. Hopefully, none of us believe a cross is some magic talisman that will ward off evil. It is not. Hopefully, none of us believe a cross will magically prevent us from making bad decisions. It will not. For all Christians, the cross is special because it represents the sacrifice made on a Roman cross by God’s Son. The sacrifice made for each of us. The fulfillment of God’s covenant promises in scripture. The affirmation of John 3:16-17 and Ephesians 2:8.
As to what I will not write about each day being special because of Greta, each day is special because the love we share is a sign and symbol of God’s love for God’s Creation. It is part of the love we see in that Creation, in the flowers and trees, in the birds and bees and all of God’s flora and fauna. John had the right of it, “For God so loved the world.”
God’s love is the measure of specialosityness. It is quantified by Creation itself. It is God, God’s grace and God’s love that determine someone or something as special. God’s love is wholly unmerited, unearned, absolute, mysterious to us at times, but always fully there. God’s love it special!
Stay safe, bask in God’s love, trust God,
Pastor Ray