“The blessings of God are a Mandelbrot set. They aren’t one size fits all. Each blessing is custom-fitted to your complexity and, I might add, your personality. Take the mercy of God, for example. The mercy God has shown you is a unique as your fingerprint.”- Mark Batterson
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”- Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
Mark Batterson continues Chapter 2 of Double Blessing as he talks about the father of fractal geometry, Benoit Mandelbrot. In fractal geometry, a complex set of numbers produces an intricate shape when plotted on a plane. Thus, clouds and coastlines provide examples of this complexity.
Similarly, Pastor Batterson sees the blessings of God as a Mandelbrot set. Because God custom-fits each blessing to your complexity – and personality. For example, take a look at God’s mercy. It’s as unique as your fingerprint. In addition, Lamentations 3:23 tells us that God’s mercies are new every morning. Also, the Hebrew word for new means more than ‘again and again.’ Above all, it also means ‘different.’ Therefore, Mark asserts, “each day’s mercy is a never-to-be-repeated miracle.”
Hence, Pastor Batterson links your uniqueness with worship:
“There never has been and never will be anyone like you. . . . It’s testament to the God who created you. And the significance of that is this: no one can worship God like you or for you. When we sing a song like ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness,’ we may be singing the same words, but we are singing a very different song. . . . If you don’t sing, the person next to you might not miss your voice, but God will. In fact, you are holding out on God. Why? Because your praise is irreplaceable. Like our praise that is uniquely offered to God, God’s promises are uniquely fitted to us.”
Today’s question: How does God custom-fit your blessings like a Mandelbrot set? Please share.
New addition to the Crown Jewels: “Who’s in your driver’s seat?”
Tomorrow’s blog: “Your point of greatest giftedness – and weakness”
