Sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes

"For the truth about God is known to them [all mankind]

instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God" (Romans 1:19-20, NLT).

Dorothy Bull asks:

Why does the earthworm always look clean, When you consider where it has been? How does the butterfly with new-formed wings? Know how to fly with such cumbersome things? Where does the spider keep all its thread? Who put the web-pattern into its head? How does the ant carry food twice its size, And store for the winter? Who made it so wise? 1

We can say it was chance or we can say it was God. No matter what we say, belief in God is instinctive. Every person is born with an innate sense of a divine, all- powerful Supreme Being. To act on this belief, however, is a choice. We believe what we want to believe. Often we believe what is convenient. Sometimes doubts are genuine and cause us to think, and that is good. But sometimes they are a smoke screen to hide a moral problem . we fear that if we come to Christ, believe in him and accept him as our Savior we might have to give up some things we know instinctively are wrong. Thus it is choice, not chance, that determines our beliefs and therefore our eternal destiny.

As God's Word says, "Choose you today whom you will serve!"

Indeed, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world" (Psalm 19:1-4, NIV).

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you have planted in my heart a sense of your divine being, that you gave me the chance to hear the gospel, and that you put it in my heart to choose to believe in you and to accept your gift of forgiveness and eternal life. In gratitude for all you have done for me; please help me to serve you faithfully all the days of my life. Gratefully, in Jesus' name. Amen."

1. Cited in "Encounter" magazine, September/October, 2001 (Australian printed edition).