Ohmigosh, Light Years!

[HKHaugan]

I was just reading about the largest structure in the universe. It is called an LQG, large quasar group also known as a black hole. Why I’m not sure. But it’s what the article continued to say that had the impact. These black holes are enormous beyond imagination. Scientists have measured one they say is 4 million light years across. Yes, that’s right, LIGHT YEARS. Not miles but light years across and one light year is what it takes for light to travel 365 days x24 hours x60 minutes x60 seconds x186,000 miles a second. Now times that by 4 million and you have the size of one of the discovered LQG’s. This is only one of many structures in the universe. “Thou hast set my feet in a large room…(Ps.31:8).” Wow, I’ll say! This endless, infinite, massive, immeasurable universe is still just a part of Creation. After this you have to take into consideration the internal complexities of each part, how all the universe works in systematic order and the extent of its operation.

There’s even more.

Consider the unseen spiritual depth behind what we are materially involved in. There is a whole dimension of angelic beings, relational experience and Heaven itself, moral law and the existence of hell and its ruler. It’s far beyond mythology. It’s far beyond religion. It’s far beyond philosophy or any other searching endeavor. And who knows what else?

I am so thankful that God has put it into the mind of man to be scientifically curious. Science is revealing the creative majesty of a mind that has put the unfathomable in place and given us the urging to try and plumb its depth and breadth. What science is doing is giving us more reason to worship, be involved in and glorify the creative nature of God. The more science reveals the more we are led to look forward. The more we can see the more we can be an extension of Him, see His will and fulfill His purpose for us. Science has revealed more and more of the glory of God and how personal He really is.

Now shift your thoughts in that direction, what it means to be an individual, conscious, breathing and having a biological life within this universe for maybe 70, 80 or 90 years and our spiritual existence in an eternity beyond. We can only ask two questions and they are the ones the Psalmist asks, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him and the son of man that Thou visitest him (Ps.8:4)?”

The answers I have cause me to take a different tack. It starts with Creation. Creation is an event. Creation is an event which makes us events within it. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We are not just creatures living in a zoo, taking up food and space, without meaning and purpose. We are events taking place in the broad context of God’s eternal events. In Jesus we have transcended the physical limitations of light years, mass and distance. We are in direct contact with the Creator, the event maker, the mind, heart and spirit behind it all. We are events, creative beings, images of the main event, God Himself. He has given us in Jesus the personal sense of being an event in process. Personal life is the event that realizes its meaning, the significance of having been called into being personally by Him and the purpose to take part in creating interpersonal events, to be creators like Him, moment by moment in the spiritual light years of His presence.

We are not living randomly in the endless grip of the unknown. Rather we are given a unique awareness, a gift if you will, one that is shaped by faith. It’s called realization. To realize is to always have within us the capacity to be awakened to what can be because that’s the will of God for each of us. To realize something is to have a moment of newness, excitement and continuing enthusiasm about being alive. When, for instance, we realize we are alive to be an event, we expect something to happen. That expectation is realized through faith in Jesus. He is giving us the treat of expectation in the prescribed format that carries all the wonders of the Spirit of God.

Jesus is the ultimate event that defines all events. Life for each of us is an ongoing series of events that each of us as an event is creating. Now return with me to the LQG that’s 4 million light years across. God in His infinite wisdom and His infinitesimal concern has entered His own event, His Creation, limited Himself to our birth, life and death process in time and our space for just about 30 years. His Cross and His Resurrection are the focal points of the event that is Jesus. In Him, that personal and spiritual event, He has given us the transcendent ability to communicate and move forward with Him. Each of us has a unique part in His plan, His universe, His eternity, His events. Pray, stay in the Word, worship Him in the Body of His people and we will be taking part in the events He has planned for us and will lead us right where He is.

Now maybe we can share with others how extraordinary it is to be one with Him who is “the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).”