God's Gravity

So much of our physical lives depend on the Earth's gravity. Think about it.

Gravity keeps our feet planted on the ground so we don't float away.

Gravity brings the rain down and makes waterfalls beautiful.
Gravity keeps our coffee in our cups.

Those are just a few things. I'm sure you can think of many, many more.

 

Gravity also is important in another dimension of our lives. Our spiritual lives depend on God's gravity.

 

In a recent article reviewing the movie "Gravity," just out in theaters, Eric Metaxas of Breakpoint wrote: "it’s hard to imagine a better metaphor for salvation than God’s gravity snatching us from the void of eternal aloneness."

 

That reminded me that not too long ago I heard Mike Glenn, pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, say that because of God's glory, His weight, He is the only one strong enough to wrap His gravity around you to keep you in place.

 

The church I attended as a teenager had Sunday evening services. It was a bit less structured than Sunday morning. Our pastor taught us from God's Word—Bible study versus a sermon. And, we had time to sing more hymns. I loved the fact that we in the pews even got to choose some of them.

 

One of my favorite requests was "I Know Whom I Have Believèd." If you are unfamiliar with this hymn, here is a link to Cyber Hymnal's version: http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/k/ikwihb.htm.

 

The refrain echoes Paul's words in 2 Timothy 1:12.

 

But I know Whom I have believèd,

And am persuaded that He is able

To keep that which I’ve committed

Unto Him against that day.

 

What was the point of Paul's words to Timothy?

 

Paul knew the hardships that Timothy was going through. Just the fact that Timothy was a follower of Jesus Christ with a "holy calling" was enough to bring suffering and tears as well as fear. But, on top of that, being a church leader has its own peculiar stresses.

 

So, Paul reminded Timothy that the One they both believed in and trusted "is able." Things may shake and drift around him, but Timothy could have unshakeable confidence and not join the drifting.

 

That is, if he remained persuaded that his Lord "is able," if he believed the One who is "the King eternal, immortal, invisible," the One who "alone is wise." (1 Timothy 1:17) Only the gravity of God, the glory and weight of the Lord God Almighty wrapped around him could keep Timothy from drifting.

 

Praying moms, when we begin our prayers by declaring through praise the character of the One in Whom we have believed, we will experience His gravity wrapped around us. Then, we can intercede for our children and others with unshakeable confidence, enabled to commit to Him the outcome of our prayers. We can be held in place without drifting by means of God's gravity.