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What’s the heaviest thing you can lift?

A gallon of milk? 100 pounds? An armchair?

Now what’s the heaviest thing you can lift with your face?? Most of us are probably lucky if we can even twitch our nose, much less move something with it!

Did you know that an elephant’s trunk is so strong that it can lift over 500 pounds!

That’s about how much a baby grand piano weighs! Can you imagine lifting a piano with your face?!? An elephant’s trunk is so strong that not only can it lift heavy objects, but it can also push down trees, and scare away lions! Yet their trunks are also so sensitive that it can pick up something even as small as a paintbrush!

Elephants use their trunks for a lot of the same things we use our hands for, and more! Elephants use their trunks to suck and spray water, throw dust on their backs, and even greet and hug other elephants! They also use their trunks to make sounds and call to each other!

Can you imagine having a tool on your face that was half trumpet and half water hose? Yet you could use it to pick things up, wrestle, greet people, break down trees, and move objects that weigh a fourth of a ton or more?!?

Even with modern cranes, water hoses, trumpets, and robots arms, we couldn’t imagine having a tool as powerful and efficient as an elephant’s trunk at our disposal 24/7.

So how did the elephant’s trunk come to be? How did elephants become so strong?

Many people will try to tell us that this massive animal and its incredible trunk were created from nothing, by accident, over the course of millions of years. However, GOD made this amazing animal for a reason. The Bible, in the book of Romans, says, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).

The things we see in this world like the animals, the stars, the trees, the ocean, the elephant’s trunk, and even you and me, proclaim that God is real and that He is powerful!

The problem though, is that GOD is ultimately perfect and you and I are not.

According to the Bible, when you lie, disrespect your parents, steal, get angry with people, lust, take God’s name in vain (say “O-M-G”), or call people names, you are breaking God’s commands (which is called sin) and doing what angers and grieves the holy God. (See the Ten Commandments in the Bible in Exodus 20.)

When we disobey God, it means that we are His enemies. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). Because we sin, and because God is perfectly just, we deserve to be separated from God in a horrible, eternal lake of fire, called Hell.

BUT, because GOD loves you so much, He sent Jesus to die for your sins! “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

When Jesus, GOD Himself, died for your sins on the cross, He paid for the death that your sins and my sins require! Jesus paid the price for what our sins require! Then Jesus rose from the grave, defeating death, and is now at the right hand of the Father in Heaven! So that if you repent (turn away from all your sins) and you trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, because He paid for your sins and can save you from Hell, God will give you eternal life!! It is a free gift that He offers you!! (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The moment we, in faith and repentance, trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, God takes away the punishment that we deserve because Jesus paid for it. He gives us eternal life, and gives us a new heart that wants to follow Him through the Holy Spirit (God Himself) living in us!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God placed the death that we deserve on Jesus’ shoulders so that we could be forgiven, if we only repent and trust in Christ Jesus.

The Bible says that GOD’s creatures (like the elephant) give Him glory. Will you?

Once you decide to follow Him, read His Word—the Bible (start with the book of John)—and get involved in a Bible-teaching, Christ-following church. That way you can grow in your faith, learn more of God’s love for you, and learn how you can show your love for Him by following Him and doing what the Bible says. Also, be sure to talk to Him as often as possible through prayer, now that you know Him as your heavenly Father.

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