Exchange Rate
Matt Miles • June 10, 2021
Have you ever regretted a purchase? Exchanging one item for another has become very important as we purchase more and more online. Online purchasing comes with the inherent risk that you may not get what you paid for. Maybe you bought an item to replace another but then you realize the original is better. This scenario has happened to most of us. It is also the premise behind Romans 1:25, “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
We often have exchanged what we have known to be true for a lie. At the time it seemed like we were going to be better off. The new thing is “better”, it fills my needs more completely. As an example, we have a generation of students and young adults being fooled into thinking that our main problem is social and racial injustice, and if they don’t agree, they are part of the problem. A small minority of humanists have usurped power over them with a lie. This lie has a foundation in “the lie”, as Satan’s plan is to draw people away from the Truth. If the Truth can be exchanged for the lie, then it becomes easier to manipulate and gain control of a person. Subsequently, “truth” is rewritten to whatever is desired to accomplish an evil agenda, culminating in the giving of a life in worship of self and the agenda.
The Truth sets free while the lie enslaves and condemns. If we would view ourselves as Jesus does, it would be evident that we are all broken. There is none of us good in and of ourselves. We are in desperate need of the Truth to complete us for all eternity. Only when we realize we have all been created in the Truth’s image will we see what we have exchanged for the lie. As I release my will for His, my spirit is renewed by the very One that made it. Then, and only then, will we see sin as sin with the need for reconciliation, loving our neighbor with a desire that they come to the Truth. Only when sin is replaced with a repentant heart will we have freedom to live the life planned by our Creator.
We must keep looking up to our Creator who is the only One deserving of our worship and devotion. Man-made ideas, agendas and programs will only lead to divisive lives focused on “serving the creature rather than the Creator.”
Blessings to all of you who lift this ministry up in your prayers as we continue LOOKING UP and lead others to do the same!

As many of you may know, I appreciate space. Not space around me, although the older I get the more I appreciate that as well. The things in the heavens fascinate me and have for a large chunk of my life. I love working with our telescopes, allowing people to see for themselves objects that the Lord made on the 4th day of history. When I was younger I followed our Space Shuttle program, and over the years I have had the opportunity to see a couple of those shuttles around the country. Now it is great to see all the renewed interest in exploring the heavenly creation. I know most of it is for evolutionary reasons, yet over and over again something is discovered that points to the trustworthiness of God’s Word. After all, we are to study His creation as Genesis 1:28 states. On a recent trip to El Paso, it occurred to me that Blue Origin’s launch facility is in west Texas somewhere. After some quick searching I realized we were within an hour and half of it, and there was a rescheduled launch window during the time of our meeting. So, with some persuading of my colleagues, we arose early one morning to make the launch. We made it with just minutes to spare. It was spectacular! The whole launch to just beyond the Karman Line (space boundary, 62 miles/100km) and return of the rocket and capsule is about ten minutes total. While Blue Origin is best known for its New Shepherd rocket that carries paying customers to space and back with the biggest windows ever in a capsule, this NS-29 launch was purely experimental with a payload of instruments to measure simulated lunar gravity. Even though it was not a Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Starship or Falcon launch, it was great to hear and feel a launch for the first time, from blast off to the sonic boom return. It has piqued my desire to see a bigger launch now. As I began to reflect on what I experienced, the Lord reminded me of His design. Earth, our home planet, is so well designed for life. There is literally nowhere in all the universe like it. Yet He gave us the ability to discover creation beyond it. The only reason we can launch rockets and do space exploration is because He set it up in an orderly way. Physics works because He established it to work in a predictable fashion. As much as we may never understand everything in the universe from our position here, it works on an ordered reality that is reinforced by God’s Word. This is what drove Sir Isaac Newton in his understanding of physics. He wrote, “The motions which the planets now have could not spring from any natural cause alone but were by an intelligent Agent.” Evolutionists may come up with theories about the origin of things in the heavens, but over and over again they are being shown through experimentation and observation to be wrong. The Lord set the order of everything in the beginning and sustains it by His Word (Hebrews 1:3). So as you look to the heavens tonight, gaze into the depths of space and observe the different facets the Lord placed up there for our eyes (Genesis 1:17). Peer through a telescope at the lesser light of the moon with marvel and anticipation of further human study in the coming years. Check out the amazing observations being made by the James Webb telescope from deep in space. All of these place a perspective of how awesome our Creator is and how much we depend on Him. Our design becomes more and more obvious with every discovery, yet in our universe we appear so minuscule and fragile. Thanks be to God that His infinite focus has, is and always will be here on us! Blessings.