Thoughts on the words of J. Gresham Machen – The Secret Signature of the Soul

J. Gresham Machen lived from 1881-1937. He was a Presbyterian churchman, a New Testament scholar, a Princeton Theological Seminary professor, founder of the Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Machen is considered to be the last of the great Princeton theologians. The quotes in this series come from his book, “Christianity and Liberalism”.

 

“…the secret signature of each soul…. This signature on each soul may be a product of heredity and environment, but that only means that heredity and environment are among the instruments whereby God creates a soul.”

April – 2017

What a profound and wonderful statement. We are all wonderfully made and we are all different. We are not sprung up randomly , we don’t come into our families by chance. God knows us, he knows what is written on our souls.

Creation

 

God has left His footprints in creation.. He is not contained in creation or equated with it, but He is revealed by it. – Steve Harper

Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created.      –Psalm 148:5

Something Pleasing

“Every time you feel in God’s creatures something pleasing and attractive, do not let your attention be arrested by them alone, but, passing them by, transfer your thought to God and say: ‘O my God, if thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Thou Thyself, Creator of all!” – Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

I came across this quote in Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.

There isn’t much I can add to this. I love going out with my camera and trying to capture “something pleasing and attractive”. I am grateful to God for allowing me this simple pleasure.

The Nose Knows

Today I went for a hike at Moss Rock Preserve with Loretta using mapmyhike – a super cool app I just put on my phone. I’m a novice hiker and user of this app, so excuse my exuberance, but it really is cool. It not only told me how fast and how far I went, but it also shows my route and the elevation! And this is the FREE app; I can just imagine what the MVP version can do!

One thing it could not do that my dog could do was find my way back. On the return trip, when we came to a fork, I was about to hesitate but she didn’t – and then I’d look up and see a tree with a red mark on it and knew she was taking us the right way. This got me to thinking how awesome it is that God created His creatures with such fantastic inborn abilities. She had never been on this trail before; in fact she’s done very little woodland hiking. I assume it was her ingenious sense of smell that told her where to go.

I am excited to use my app again. It is encouraging to me since I don’t often have anyone to walk with. I think it’s the motivation I need!

Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.-Psalm 158:5

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.- Revelation4:11