Introduction:
One time a teacher was talking about the 7 wonders of the ancient world. After this lesson, she wanted to stretch the thinking of her pupils even further. This creative teacher asked her class to vote upon what they would consider to be the seven wonders of the world. As she tallied the votes the teacher was very pleased by the results. The top 7 vote getters were the Great Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Great Wall of China. The teacher was pleased. This was a list reflecting good thought and a sound knowledge of the world.
Suddenly, the teacher recognized that one little girl hadn’t turned in a ballot. She asked her, “Mary, are you having trouble with your list?” Mary quitely replied, “Yes, I can’t decide, there are so many.’ Realizing that the girl had written something on the paper, the teacher persisted, “Well, just tell me what you have so far.” Mary hesitated and then said, “I think the seven wonders of the world are to touch, to taste, to see, to hear, to run, to laugh and to love.” The teacher was speechless. Mary had captured with the innocence of her years the true wonders of life- wonderous gifts from God.
Mary’s list is composed of common, everyday things that we take for granted. By labeling them the wonders of the world helps us gain a greater appreciation of just how richly God has blest us. Each of the little girl’s wonders are mentioned in the Bible.
Thesis: Let’s talk about these wonders for Thanksgiving
For instances:
Touch
“And wherever he went--into villages, towns or countryside--they placed the sick in the market-places. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.” Mark 6:56, NIV.
More precious are the times when Jesus touched others. “A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.” Mark 1:40-42, NIV.
Researchers have found that animals deprived of touch develop serious physical and behavioral problems. Other studies show that premature infants who are touched grow heavier and healthier than those who are not. Diane Ackerman says, “In the absence of touching and being touched, people of all ages can sicken and grow touch starved.
Jesus used touch to heal, although he didn’t have to. He was able with a word to make the afflicted well and the crippled whole. Even so, he included touch as part of his miracles.
Taste
Manna- “The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.” Exodus 16:31, NIV. “They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.” Numbers 11:8, NIV.
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2, 3, NIV.
A newborn baby craves the milk he knows he needs desperately, and it’s a desperate craving, and there’s nothing else that’ll satisfy. Babies may be weak but not in the voice. God gave them strong voices so they can tell us they want milk now! That’s the way it ought to be with us. We need to recognize we have a need. As Christians, we have tasted that the Lord is good. We want more of that. Man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).
See
“Having said this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.” John 9:6, 7, NIV.
“Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”” John 9:39, NIV.
Fanny Crosby is probably the most prolific hymnist in history. Though blind at six weeks of age, she wrote over 8,000 hymns. When Fanny Crosby was old, someone said to her that, if she had been born in that day, an operation could have restored her sight. Instead of being upset, Miss Crosby said, "I don't know that I would change anything. Do you know that the first thing I'm ever going to see is the face of Jesus?"
“Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” Revelation 1:7, NIV.
Hear
Hearing is possibly the least appreciated of God’s gifts. We often take it for granted- until our hearing fails us and then we realize its importance.
Jesus was often saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Like those who can see but do not see, the Bible often says that there are those who hear but do not hear. “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” Matthew 13:13.
Have we ever had someone we are talking with say, “Are you listening to me”, because they could tell our minds were somewhere else? That’s hearing without really hearing.
The distracted mind. The ignorant heart. The skeptical will. All of these can lead us to listen without really hearing; to receiving and processing and identifying the words someone else is speaking, but in the end not really accepting them, for one reason or another.
A few years ago there was a commercial for cell phones where a guy is going all over saying, “Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?” As we get older one of the first things to go is our hearing. Unfortunately, many people loose their hearing spiritual speaking long before they actually lose their hearing physically speaking.
Run
“As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.” Mark 9:15, NIV.
“So he (Zacchaeus) ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.” Luke 19:4, NIV.
Many of us can’t (or don’t) run anymore. However, spiritually speaking, we need to be running. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1, 2, NIV.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7.
Laugh
I think that God has a sense of humor. I believe He approves of holy laughter.
“So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”” Genesis 18:12, NIV. Isaac literally means laughter.
“A cheerful heart (laughter) is good medicine...” Proverbs 17:22. This fact is verified by the medical profession. Laughter seems to be God’s provision for releasing the natural pain killers in our body that combat arthritis and slow down the release of stress producing hormones. Jesus said “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10, NIV.
Love
“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39
To love and be loved is the greatest of gifts.
John 3:16
“Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13, NIV.
We need to thank God for the wonders that he has given us. Touch, taste, see, hear, run, laugh, and the greatest of these is love.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV.
Several years ago there was a girl in an orphanage. She was unattractive and had mannerisms that were not very attractive either, and so she was disliked and shunned by the other children and was not liked by her teachers. The head of the institution looked for a reason to send her off to some other place. One afternoon the opportunity came. She was suspected of writing unapproved, illicit notes to someone outside the institution. One of the little girls had just reported, “I saw her write a note and hide it on a tree near the stone wall.” The superintendent hurried to the tree and found the note. He then passed it silently to his assistant. The note read, “To whoever finds this, I love you.” In essence, someone else also wrote a note and put it on a tree outside a city wall at another place a long time ago. Of him, too, it was written “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men” Isaiah 53:2, 3, NIV. They sought to get rid of Jesus. They took him out to Calvary’s hill where they crucified him. They nailed him to a tree. But when men get there, they find a note on that tree that reads, “To whoever finds this, I love you.”
