Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

What is a billion? I once read some statements answering that question by putting it into perspective.

“A billion hours ago, men were still living in caves. A billion minutes ago, Christ walked on the earth. A billion seconds ago, the first atomic bomb had not been exploded. Yet one billion, in terms of federal government spending, was 80 minutes ago.”

So what is a trillion? It’s 1000 billion and our National Debt as of this week is 23.3 trillion!

Perspective gives us a point of view to understand things. For instance, once upon a time a little boy was trying to grasp the greatness of God. So he decided to talk to Him.

“Go, are You really there?” the youngster asked. To his astonishment, a Voice replied, “Yes, what can I do for you?”

The child began, “God, what is a million years to You?” To help the little boy understand the concept of infinity, God replied, “A million years to Me is like a minute.”

Then the child asked a second question, “God, what’s a million dollars to You?” To which God answered, “A million dollars to Me is like a penny.”

“Wow!” the boy exclaimed, “You’re so generous. Can I have one of Your pennies?” God responded, “Sure!  In a minute.”

A quote from a devotional reading I turn to each day recently gave me a perspective to consider. The author said, “Heaven’s values are so different from the values of earth.” So I turned to the Bible to compare those values.

For instance, when it comes to time, the Bible tells us, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). When we don’t understand why He doesn’t answer our prayer on our timetable, we need to remember He answers in His time.

Over two thousand years ago, when Jesus walked on the earth, He observed people placing their offering into the temple treasury. When the poor widow put in two mites, Jesus told His disciples she gave more than the rich who gave from their abundance because she gave from her want.

One day, five thousand men plus women and children gathered to hear Jesus teach. As the hours went by, Jesus’ asked the disciples about feeding all of them. They found a little boy who gave his lunch of five loaves and two fishes. Jesus blessed it and the disciples fed the multitude and there were 12 baskets full left over.

To help us grasp the greatness of God, the Bible tells us He measures the oceans with the palm of His hand and the skies with the span of His hand. Consider that God created billions of stars in the galaxies and billions of bits of data within one strand of human DNA.

The amazing thing is that God is big enough to create the heavens and the earth, but small enough to live in my heart.