God Issues Today: "Thoughts You Don't Want to Think"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist) and Mansfield, Texas.

In the market for a pet hippo? The Basel Zoo has just what you're looking for. Today's Wall Street Journal introduces us to Farasi, a calf born on November 6. He weighs 220 pounds and is said to be adorable. But the zoo doesn't have enough room for him, so they are trying to find him a new home. If no one adopts Farasi, he will be euthanized, his meat probably fed to lions. There's your first devotional thought for the day.

The Swiss are doing everything they can to keep this from happening. They voted him "Swiss of the Year" for 2008, beating out tennis star Roger Federer. Imagine how that must feel, to be perhaps the greatest tennis player of all time but less popular than a hippo. There's your second devotional thought for the day.

European zoos think that animals should be free to do what comes naturally. When a surplus of offspring results and zookeepers cannot find a home for the babies, they typically kill them. By contrast, American zoos believe in birth control or sexual abstinence for their animal populations. Imagine that it's your job to explain that policy to the lions and gorillas in your care. There's your third devotional thought for the day. Now aren't you glad you opened today's essay?

It seems to me that there are analogies between Farasi's situation and ours. Like him, you and I live in a world which is much like a zoo. We are born into an environment not of our choosing—I didn't decide to be born in Houston rather than Khartoum. We are raised by people we didn't choose—I was blessed to have loving parents, but more than three million children in America are received each year by child protective services, victims of abuse or neglect. I cannot do much about my present circumstances—while I can travel further than Farasi is allowed to wander, my part of the zoo is infinitesimal compared with the rest of what's out there.

There are times when we can feel like animals in a zoo—on display, valuable to others to the degree that we do what they want us to do, rewarded when we are productive. But here's the difference: Our Zookeeper loves us, each of us, passionately and personally. He created each of us, intentionally and joyfully. There are more than 48 million Baptists in America—God didn't need one more. He made me because he wanted me to live forever with him. He made you for the same reason.

Jesus died so you could live, because he loves you and likes you and wants an intimate relationship with you. That's a devotional thought worth thinking, all day long.