Wonderfully Made

Our Daily Bread 

Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn

READ: Psalm 139:13-18

Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. —Psalm 139:14

While getting an eye exam recently, my doctor hauled out a piece of equipment that I hadn’t seen before. I asked him what the device was, and he responded, “I’m using it to take a picture of the inside of the back of your eye.”

I was impressed that someone had invented a camera that could do that. But I was even more impressed by what my doctor could learn from that picture. He said, “We can gather a lot of details about your current general health simply by looking at the back of your eye.”

Do You Have "I" Issues?

By Jennifer Rothschild

"He must become greater; I must become less." John 3:30 (NIV)

In the late '70s I sat with my folks in a hospital room in the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. The doctors who had just completed tests on my eyes were explaining what it meant to have retinitis pigmentosa. They described how I would slowly lose my remaining sight and eventually be totally blind. My mind raced and my heart welled with confusing emotions. I was silent in that hospital room that day.

A few days later at my next visit, I only wish I had been silent.

We went back to the same room with some of the same doctors. This time it was to help me get on a rehabilitative program. One doctor described how large, thick glasses might help with the little vision I still had. Another discussed walking with a cane. Another doctor told me how important it was for me to have an oversized magnifying glass and advised me to use a flashlight to find my locker at school.

A Spiritual Health Check Up - Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!

“The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22

Friday Night Lights was a movie turned into a TV series based on life and football in Odessa, Texas. The fictional Dillon Panthers were all the rage in Dillon, Texas. The football team’s motto was a good one and repeated often by Coach Taylor and the team: “Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t lose!”

I think one of the reasons that I like that motto so much is because it goes right along with what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light”(Matthew 6:22). You can’t lose when your eyes are clearly on the Lord and your heart is fully in love with Him.

CLEAR EYES AND FULL HEARTS = A HEALTHY CHURCH
 
One of the many jobs a pastor has under God is to lead the church to a place of health. It starts with the pastor being healthy - spiritually, emotionally, mentally, relationally (especially in their own marriage and family), and physically. It is impossible to lead people to a place where you yourself are not. It is incumbent on the pastor to do all he can to stay healthy so that he can lead the people to be healthy and stay healthy.

Seeing Near And Far

by Julie Ackerman Link

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Psalm 145

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him. —Psalm 145:18

Bible in a Year:
Job 5-7

Having two healthy eyes is not enough to see clearly. I know this from experience. After a series of eye surgeries for a torn retina, both eyes could see well but they refused to cooperate with each other. One eye saw things far away and the other saw things close up. But instead of working together, they fought for supremacy. Until I could get new prescription glasses 3 months later, my eyes remained unfocused.

Something similar happens in our view of God. Some people focus better on God when they see Him as “close up”—when they think of Him as intimately present in their daily life. Other Christians see God more clearly as “far away” or far beyond anything we can imagine, ruling the universe in power and majesty.

While people disagree about which view is best, the Bible works like a prescription lens helping us to see that both are correct. King David presents both views in Psalm 145: “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him” (v.18) and “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable” (v.3).

Thankfully, our Father in heaven is near to hear our prayers yet so far above us in power that He can meet every need.

Lord, You’re the high and lofty One,
Yet close enough to hear our voice;
You’re powerful, yet personal;
Your love for us makes us rejoice. —Sper

God is big enough to care for the smallest needs.

http://odb.org/2012/05/15/seeing-near-and-far/#