Saturday, August 21, 2010

Just a Moth

This is an ordinary, boring moth. He is not exceptionally large, not a very beautiful shape, and not brightly colored. He is dull, brown, and simple. He's not trying to draw attention to himself, in fact, he's shying away from attention. I never even bothered to identify him. He was too ordinary and commonplace.




However, I don't think he's disappointed that God made him boring. If he were brightly colored, he'd be a prime target for predators. His dull colors are his safety. That's why God designed him that way. So he is just content to be camouflaged, for he recognizes that living out his God-given design is his greatest good.

The same goes for us. The safest place for us to be is right where God has us. We don't need to try to make more of ourselves than we are. It's so easy to pursue glory "from one another" (John 5:44), but all we really need to do is settle down to be who and what God commands us to be. His design for us is our greatest good. Let's take a lesson from this boring little moth and settle for being boring. We don't need to be glorious. 

5 comments:

Tyler van der Hoeven said...

So easy to say, so hard to accept, yet in it is held the greatest joy of life.. glorifying God.

Anonymous said...

I just finished Josh Harris's book "Dug Down Deep" and he talks in the last chapter about "Humble Orthodoxy". Your post reminds me of that. We can get so bent out of shape trying to pretty ourselves up and show our colors with our orthodoxy and doctrines. They are very important but they shouldn't point to us and exalt us, rather they should point to God and the gospel and make Him look great and glorious. No bird or predator is going to eat Him.

- Dad

His Proverbs31 Sparrow said...

I *loved* this Sam...excellent, excellent, excellent post!

My favorite part, although I liked it all, is: "...but all we really need to do is settle down to be who and what God commands us to be. His design for us is our greatest good."

vdhkids said...

Such a great reminder Sam - I think I will think of this every time I see a "plain" moth from now on.

Chase said...

That is great! I never thought of it that way.