“It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts”
Isaiah 45:12
I want to give you six basic principles that are fundamental to all
potential. Here are the next two principles.
Principle #3—All things must be maintained by the sources
from which they came.
God’s world also reveals that whatever God creates must be sustained
and maintained by the source from which it came. Plants that
are pulled from the ground die. Animals that cease to eat plants or
other animals die. Fish that are removed from water die. Flowers that
are cut for arrangements wilt sooner than those that remain attached
to the plant. Indeed, all living things die the instant they are removed
from their sources. The signs of death and decay may not be immediately
evident, but nonetheless, they are dead. None of God’s living
creations can survive without the resources and the nourishment provided
by the substances from which they came.
Principle #4—The potential of all things is related to the
sources from which they came.
Because all things are composed of the sources from which they
came, they also contain as little or as much potential as their original
substances. Animals have no greater or lesser potential than the
dirt from which they came. Plants also have only the potential of the
dirt. If the soil is lacking in nutrients or the ability to hold water, the
plants attached to that soil are going to be adversely affected by the
poor quality of the soil. Likewise, the animals that eat the plants that
are growing in the unhealthy soil are going to receive less nutrients
than if they had eaten plants that were growing in healthy soil.
No product can be more powerful than the source from which it
came. A wooden table, for example, is only as strong as the wood of
the tree from which the furniture maker built it. If you make a table
from a rotten tree, you’ll have a rotten table. A floor made of pine
will not withstand wear as well as a floor made of oak, because pine
is a softer wood than oak. The characteristics of the tree from which
the flooring boards were made always affect the quality of the finished
floor.
Thus, the quality of any
product is dependent upon the
quality of the components used
in the product, which is dependent
upon the quality of the materials
used in the components. The
potential of something is always
related to the potential of the
source from which it came. Nothing
can be greater than its source
No product
can be more
powerful than the
source from which it
came.
