There is Damage in You, But No Design Flaws

If you had to sacrifice one of your fingers, which would it be?

Which one would you choose as non-essential? Your pinky finger (AKA the fifth finger)? After all, it’s not much more than an ornament, right?

Actually, no. Lose your pinky finger, and you lose 50% of your hand strength. It’s true. While your thumb, index, and middle fingers do most of the pinching and picking. Your ring and pinky fingers team up to provide the bulk of the hand’s gripping power.

Sadly, many people learn this the hard way, since injuries to the pinky are pretty common. Since it’s the least-protected of our fingers, we suffer fractures and breaks from falls and sports accidents.

Consider Dana Scartondec’s (reporter for the NY Times) experience. Five months after fracturing her pinky, she “could not make a fist, swing a tennis racket with control, or securely grasp a dumbbell or the handle of a vacuum cleaner.” Without her pinky life became very problematic.

Is there any finger whose usefulness is negligible? Hardly, though some have suggested the index finger on the hand you don’t write with. I think most of us would be wise to value every finger we’ve got. God put them there for a purpose.

God’s Design

None of us should ever mess with God’s design. That’s because God gets things right the very first time and nothing He makes requires improvement or refinement. You see, whatever God produces is as close to perfection as we’ll ever see in this life. This is because God does not have to first make a prototype, then test and refine it to get things right. God’s infinite mind works out all those problems before He ever brings anything into existence.

That’s why a process such as evolution is completely unnecessary for an omniscient God. No basic kind of animal has ever been anything other than what it is today. All living things share the common Creator, but not a common ancestor.

The Image of God

Please keep this in mind the next time you’re inclined to judge yourself or someone else. You have been designed by God for a purpose. God got you right from the start. He made you the way you are, according to His own specifications. God chose your gender, your coloring, and the attributes of your personality, intelligence, and body.

It’s true that all of us have been damaged by sin and by God’s curse upon creation. But beyond those imperfections, God got the making of you correct the first time. We may have damage, but not design flaws. Every part of you—down to your pinky finger—serves an essential purpose. So stop condemning yourself. Nor be proud. Look to God as the ultimate source of your identity, worth, and honor.

And grant others that same honor, as those created in God’s image. If you identify flaws in other people, then be sure of this. You are made of the same material as they. If others are prone to certain sins and weaknesses, then guess what? You probably are as well. None of us has a monopoly on virtue, nor on evil. So don’t condemn others either.

Our Creator

If only we would acknowledge God as our infallible Creator, we would cease to be threatened by others. If only we’d acknowledge our supreme value in the sight of God, we’d cease to jealous of others. Then we’d know true happiness and contentment. And we would get along so much better with others. Only in the loving embrace of our heavenly Father will we ever find healing, peace, acceptance, and love.

“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him… Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him” (Psalm 68:1, 5, NIV).

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven, I am so weary of the turmoil and agitation in my soul. Please help me to flee into Your loving embrace and find there healing, peace, and love for my wounded and thirsty soul. Amen.