My kids and I were talking recently about how everything we see around us has all come from dirt. Throw in different amounts of oxygen or hydrogen and you get everything from water to flesh to wood, to steel, and everything in between. As we drove through the city, we talked about how everything, from the buildings we saw to the road we drove on, to the car we were driving, were nothing more thanrearranged dirt! Man has made some pretty incredible things, but we are only using the resources that are already here, and all of those resources have their origin in the soil.
Even the trees take all of their nutrients and minerals from the soil, so they too are just rearranged dirt. Every human and animal on the face of the earth, and all of the things we eat, ultimately come from the ground.
Did you know that the 59 elements that make up the human body are all found on the earth’s crust? So we can believe Genesis 2:7, which tells us that, “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Then we talked about how everything we see deteriorates over time and becomes dust once again, including us! This is also what God said from the beginning in Genesis 3:1, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Solomon says again in Ecclesiastes 12:7 “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
At some point, every one of us will face the death of this mortal body we live in, and the real us, the person who lives inside this fleshy tent, will return to the God who gave us life.
In light of this knowledge, what sort of lives ought we to be living?
I have a friend named Chuck. He lives in heaven now, but before he went home, he used to have a great response to the question, “How are you?” He would smile and say, “Not bad, for dirt!” He had the right perspective on life.
Don’t try too keep too tight a grip on your beauty, your health, your possessions. They’re just dirt. Invest your life, your talents, your resources in the kingdom of God. Store up treasures that will never rust or corrupt. Live for Christ!