I just came back from downstairs. It’s still a little early for me; a few minutes after seven. I checked the website that Malu gave me. She’s staying at PHINMA, some kind of educational training center in Tagatay. She gave me the website to this place. I looked over the website and I’m not impressed.
I imagine that many people get excited about the “exclusive accommodations”, the “training facilities”, the “US$9.6 Million” price tag that is touted on the web site, or any of the other things that are pushed at people that come to find out anything about that place. But I’m not impressed. Not because I am anyone to be impressed, but rather because I know that I am nothing(1). But it doesn’t stop there. Not only am I not anything but this building that is being glamorized by the marketers who directed the creation of the web site are also nothing.
Millions of dollars are spent every year trying make “something” out of nothing. Men spend their money trying to gain so many things, one of which is this idea that they call “the best”. And while men try to acquire what they might believe are great things, God is watching, loving, waiting. He calls out to men, whispering softly (2) through all of the things that He has made saying “I have something great for you”. But most people, business people or otherwise, can’t hear God telling them anything because they are so wrapped up in “business” or whatever else they might have their minds on.
The beauty of things is not found in the money that is spent on them. The beauty of things is found primarily in the reason(s) they were created, in what’s behind the work. What is considered outwardly beautiful changes across centuries, across cultures, and even within ones own family. What one’s grandmother might think is a beautiful collection of nicknacks is considered ‘not’ Feng Shui by someone else. What is considered a beautiful quaint home by one man is considered to be a shack by another. And what is considered a multimillion dollar multicenter by one group is considered a monstrosity by another. But the group, or the person isn’t what matters. And it most certainly isn’t their opinion that matters.
So what really matters in the end; is not my opinion. But everything that God considers is good, ‘is’ good. And what God looks at is “the heart“(3). So it’s the desire why something was created, it’s the desire why something is kept. It’s the desire why something is used. It’s why something is appreciated that matters. All of the things that deal with “the heart”. What does God consider good?; well himself of course. If God were a man that would be considered arrogant. But God is God. ‘We’ were made for Him. Many scriptures teach us that everything in all of the heavens and all of the earth proclaim His glory.(4) (5) and were made for His glory. That includes us!
So what is my ultimate thought about man’s megacenters, monuments and multimillion dollar structures? For me it depends on how the item is presented (6) to me. If it is presented to me as a “wow look what man has made” then my first thought is “man is nothing“. If it is presented to me as “look how beautiful this is” I think “well that is nothing compared to the sky and the clouds that are behind it that God have made. However if someone is saying “Wow, look how amazing God is. He has made a man (who is intricately complex) that is able to make something else that is beautiful in the eyes of some”. In the case of the latter I can agree that God is amazing, and what man has made?; well, it’s ok too :-)
1) “Some thoughts on Self-Esteem” by Terri Liske
2) Rom 1:20
3) 1 Sam 16:7
4) Ps 19:1-3
5) Rev 5:13
6) Luk 21:5-6
