Orange Moon Thursday, August 7, 2025 "Who Are We? Who Is He?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Who Are We?  Who Is He?" 

   

    

    President Theodore Roosevelt, after a long day of grappling with vast issues of the nation and world, ventured onto the White House lawn as night fell and vast numbers of stars began to sprinkle the dark sky.  He gazed for a long time, and then turned to the assistant who accompanied him.  "Well, now that we see ourselves as small and insignificant as we are, let go us go back inside."

    "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" asked the Psalmist.  Job amplified such mystery.  "What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon Him?" (Psalm 8:4; Job 7:17; emphasis added).  What are we indeed?  Or make it personal: who are you and who am I, that our Lord should ponder our existence for a passing thought of mind, and even more, a deep devotion of heart?

   The Bible answers in countless ways.  One, however, shines most brightly…

     "Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

    We matter so much to God that He redeemed us to Himself by a sacrifice known about, written about, spoken about, prayed about, testified about, and marveled about for 2,000 years.  None who have participated in the responses, however, have come away with any notion that even eternity will fully explain the place that human hearts - including yours and mine - have in the mind and heart of our Lord.  "The love of Christ… passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).

   This inexplicable wonder tells us most about who and what we are to God.  We matter so much to Him that He enrobed His infinite being with our humanity, becoming the mystery of "God… manifest in the flesh" (I Timothy 3:16).  He then lived a lifetime of constant challenge before suffering for what must have seemed an eternity as He bore the wrath of God and died for our sins.  Yes, who we are to God is answered not by looking upon and into ourselves, but rather looking upon and into Him.  He sees us through the lens of grace and the confident assurance that He can make something of us that will glorify His Son and serve "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11).  Who are we?  The answer lies completely and forever in who God is and what He has done in the marvel of His character, nature, and way.  "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).

    In so many ways, the cross defines us, even as it defines our Lord.  Thereby, He administers the humbling we so need, even as He reveals the glory of Christ we even more need to behold.  Indeed, let all others forsake us.  So long as it remains that God so loves us that He forsook His Son at Calvary to redeem us, we will know enough to realize that we matter far more than eternity will ever fully reveal.  Who are you?  Who am I?  A journey to Calvary leads us into the heart of God to find the answer.

The lonely man wonders, Is there anybody out there

who really gives a care

that I cry myself to sleep each night, 

and very soon I'll give up this fight.

Oh do I really matter?  Do I really matter?

The pretty girl wonders, Is there more to me than 

just this face shining in the mirror?  

Or when beauty fades into memory,

will I still, will I still be me?  

Oh do I really matter?  Do I really matter?

The guilty one wonders, is there any way to 

purge these bloody hands of mine?

Or am I damned for eternity, 

will no one rise to make my plea,

oh, do I really matter?  Do I really matter?

And as a moonbeam shining through the darkest night,

the silver voice of the risen Christ

shines pure and bright.

Oh yes, you really matter, yes, you really matter…

to Me.

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

(Galatians 6:14)

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?  And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

(Matthew 10:29-31)

Weekly Memory Verse 

  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

(I John 4:10)

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