Objects In Motion

  Objects in Motion

Justin Countryman

 

I love how God teaches me things as I am teaching my son things. This morning before church, Logan was rolling the head of a bullet around on his desk. He could not understand how if he just set the bullet on the desk that it would move because the desk is at a slight slant. I went on to explain to him the one thing from college I remember (surprisingly) and that is that objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted on by another force. I further went on to explain to Logan how gravity was the force that was causing the bullet to roll down the desk and the force that keeps us from floating into outer space. Quite a Sunday morning topic I know, but as I was pondering whether I had relayed the information to Logan in a way that He could understand, the Lord hit me with an analogy of gravity and objects in motion using my own life. I will attempt to share it with you so bear with me if you can.

For many, many years, I did my own thing. I was like an object floating around aimlessly in space searching for some sort of truth that would attract me with its gravitational pull. Weightlifting, music, band, girls, parties, etc. attracted me for some time, but that attraction was only temporary until a new attraction would gain my attention. Since I was not grounded in anything that had the ability to keep me, I would “crash” into certain things and people. Every time I crashed into a person or object, pieces of me would be lost and scars, burn marks and “crash” marks would take the place of those pieces; both in me and in the other person. I was an object out of orbit. We all know that objects that are out of orbit are dangerous, but usually are broken into little pieces by something bigger until they become such a small threat they are not even noticed anymore, but just assume some sort of orbit around something larger than it. From the age of 18 to 25, I began to break into a million little pieces. Different objects attracted different parts of me and their gravitational pull would create friction and chaos within my “world”. So many directions began to pull at me and without any stability, the end seemed very likely to come by my own hand; just like an objects end eventually comes when it is out of orbit.

During a chance church attendance, a new “gravity” began to pull at me. Every word the preacher spoke wove tighter and tighter around my heart. It felt like a force was pulling the heart out of my chest. For the first time in my life, I felt a gravitational pull that went straight to the heart. This was the Holy Spirit pulling me into the embrace of Christ. I finally saw how “out of orbit” I was, and the One who could put me back into my created place in this universe.

What I did not realize then was all this was happening so that Christ could draw me out of the "universes" of those around me and into His spiritual universe. All the pain and heartache I went through as a young man was so my attention would land on the real center of the universe, and not on thousands of tiny distractions. I was in motion heading only one direction (Hell) until the Holy Spirit stepped in, drew me to Christ, and He set me in a new direction (Heaven). I stepped into my orbit within the universe of Christ when He saved me and washed me in His blood. Now, when I “crash” into people, it is for a purpose and that purpose is so that the light of the universe, Christ, can crash into them through me. I have finally found my place in this universe, and it is under the submission and Lordship of Jesus Christ in His kingdom.

 

In Hebrews 1:1-4 it says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

It is such an amazing thing to understand who created us and where we fit in His plan. I thank God for His salvation plan and I thank Jesus for saving my soul! God, who is the center of the universe, became the center of my spiritual universe. It is not enough to know that He is Lord and Savior. One must know Him AS Lord and Savior. I praise God that He did not give up on me and that the “gravity” of the Holy Spirit brought me straight to Him! What an awesome God we serve. Just to think that He created this whole universe, of which we cannot even properly explore, yet cares enough for you and me that His Son would willingly die on a cross in my place and in your place humbles me to the greatest extent. The One who spoke the world into existence longs for a relationship with you and I. He feels our pain and he knows us intimately. Surely, it is about time we submit to His plan for our lives and by doing so fit into proper orbit within His universe. Give God a chance. You will never go back.

Psalm 19:7-9:

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”