The Curious Pilgrims

“walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it?” Matthew 6:27-29

My sister, Sue, was 15 years older than I. She acted like my mother often. She lived up the hill from and attended the church i served as pastor. I visited her house several times a week.

One day, we discussed what I was wearing. I felt like the colors clashed. This prompted a discussion that led to the patch of pine trees in her backyard. She was a plant person. She could grow anything. However, this patch of ground in front of the pine tree grove was filled with all types and colors of wildflowers. As we stood there admiring the array, she quoted this verse from Matthew. Then she asked, o you see it?

I replied, “Well I see a lot of different types of flowers and all types of colors.”

“Exactly!”, she replied with a smirk. So why are you worried about your colors matching? Look how God designed everything.

God’s deign is different what we think or understand. Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 1,

“But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see:“

God’s design is plain, but we don’t see it! God is love, and God created us to be in loving relationships with God, others, self, and the universe. Each person is spiritual, physical, rational, and emotional. Everything i in the universe is relational. The essence of God (God’s Spirit) is in all living things (Genesis 1 and 2). Human beings have free will. They can choose to love and be loved or to be selfish and uncaring. This is described in Galatians 5.

The love of God gives us the freedom to love and be loved. God’s love is demonstrated by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus showed that rules and regulations do not apply in every situation. In fact, God’s love sets us free from the expectation of others and the demands of society so that we are free to be who called designed us to be. We are to be who we are.

This does not mean we can do anything we want. Jesus made it clear we are to treat others the way we want to be treated, and we are to love others as we love ourselves. Laws and government exist for a reason. What I describe and know is that freedom that God gives is the freedom to be who we are.

Paul writes in Galatians 3:28-29 The Message

^28-29 In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.

This confirms that God does not look at people or the universe as we do. We classify and sort everything. We classify people by gender, race, ethnicity, age, education, income, etc. God doesn’t see humanity that way. Everyone is equal.

This brings us to the next part of the foundation of life. Life is sacred. We tend to look at things as holy and profane. The essence of God is present in all humanity. Sin is not breaking the rules or the law. Sin is the immaturity we exhibit by the choices we make. Some of us never grow up to act like children, regardless of our age. As we grow to be love and be loved, we learn how to love, live in peace, have joy, be gentle and kind.

When we realize that sitting down with a friend, drinking coffee, and talking to each other is a sacred event, we are on the road to understanding God’s design. When we realize that sleep is a sacred event, we will sleep better. When we understand that sex is a sacred event, we will move from lust to love.

May God open our ears that we see, open our ears that we may hear, and ipen our mouths so we may speak.