FIRSTNäide

Genesis

By Marcus Brecheen

Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8 (NIV)

One of the greatest delights of my life is that my hometown of Abilene, Texas, is the exact geographical center of the world. This is a true but little-known fact that I’m proud of. From Abilene, the center of the world, you can go exactly anywhere around the globe and the maximum distance wouldn’t be more than twelve thousand miles.

We all begin life thinking we’re the center of the universe. Ronald Reagan once compared the government to a little baby. They have an insatiable hunger at one end, and absolutely no responsibility at the other. And when you’re a baby, everybody thinks that’s cute. But it’s not so cute if it’s still true twenty years later. For all of us, life begins with a profound belief that we’re the center of all things. But at some point, by the grace of God, we figure out the truth … it’s not about you.

Here’s why it’s not about you — you did not begin with you. You began with God. Psalm 139:16 (NIV) says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” Before we were formed in our mother’s womb, God knew us inside and out. The beginning — the genesis — of something always determines its future. That’s why beginnings are so important.

Just as the sun gives light to the earth, the Son of God gives light to us. And just as a day without the sun would be dark, more so would a day be without Jesus.

This is illustrated in Michael Card’s song “Morning Prayer”:

We wanted to give You this morning, Lord. We wanted to give You this day. Thanks for the Son, and the light in our hearts. There are so many things we need to say. As we look to a new day to spend with You, It’s exciting to think what it means. That You would choose us, and use us, and call us Your own. That You would love us, and give us a new song to sing. To give You the whole of the day, We must give You this first special part. The sun as it rises reminds us of You, A day without You is like a day in the dark. We wanted to give You this morning, Lord, We wanted to give You this day.

My wife, Lexa, sings this song to our little ones in the morning while they’re waking up. They sit in a rocking chair, cuddling and enjoying one another’s complete and undivided attention. This is a picture of how God wants to be with you. Do you see yourself sitting in your heavenly Father’s lap, being delighted in? That’s what He does; He delights in you!

How you begin each day is important, because the rest of your day is affected by it. The genesis of each day — the morning — will bring you word of God’s unfailing love when you cast all of your cares on Him. You may not know how the rest of this day will go, but the one thing you do know is that you’ll never be alone. The same holds true for this week, this month, and this year: how it begins can determine how it goes. Today, all the fullness of God is being offered and made available to you. Ask God to give you a holy awareness of all that goes on around you today — things you can see and things you cannot. Offer yourself as an extension of heaven into a world desperately in need of God’s love. You’ll be surprised what God will build into a day that begins well.

Memory Verse

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33