You know that we keep on breathing every moment of our lives, and if we should stop we should die. But not only is it so important that we should breathe, but also that we should have pure, fresh air to breath.
We have inside us something called lungs, made up of a lot of little cells or bags, which swell out when the air is drawn into them. This is why our bosoms are rising and falling all the time.
When we take the air into our lungs we poison and spoil it. The poison from every part of our bodies is carried by the blood to the lungs, where it passes off into the air that fills the lungs, and the good air passes into our blood and is carried all through our bodies.
So the air that we breathe out is full of poison, and this is why it is so important that we should have our rooms well supplied with the fresh, pure air of heaven, especially when there are many people in them. For if we keep on breathing the same poisoned air over and over, our blood cannot be purified by it, and the poison stays in our bodies and makes us ill.
You will perhaps wonder why it is that if men and animals are poisoning the air in this way all the time, it does not all become spoiled, and the life in it used up. Just see what wonderful provision God has made for this. Did you know that the trees and plants are breathing the air in and out all the time just as we are? The leaves are the lungs of the plants, and they breathe in the poisoned air which comes from men and animals, and breathe out again the fresh, pure air that we need to keep us alive.
Man is not the only "temple of God," but all created things are His dwelling place. He is "the Life," not of men only, but of all living things. So it is God who through the plant is taking away the poison from the air, and breathing out His pure, sweet life for us. He has made the plants not only to delight our eyes with His beauty, but that through them He may give life to us continually.
Nature itself is a parable, showing forth the law of love:
"There is nothing, save the selfish heart of man, that lives unto itself. No bird that cleaves the air, no animal that moves upon the ground, but ministers to some other life. There is no leaf of the forest, or lowly blade of grass, but has its ministry. Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that element of life without which neither man nor animal could live; and man and animal, in turn, minister to the life of tree and shrub and leaf."--The Desire of Ages, p. 20.
Can we not, then, read in the plants "the Gospel of our salvation?" (Ephesians 1:13)
Does not this teach us how God takes upon himself the curse and poison of our sin, and destroying it, pours out His life for us instead, that we may be saved by it?
The crowded cities do not have many trees and plants to purify the air for the great number of people who poison it. But God sends the wind to carry the poisoned air to the country, where it is made pure, and carried back by the wind to the cities again.
It was into man's nostrils that God breathed. We can learn from this the proper way to breathe,--not through the mouth, but through the nose. In this way the air is warmed and freed from dust before it reaches our lungs. If we breathe the air out through the mouth, we are likely to take the poisoned air in again, as it is right before us. But the nostrils, when we breathe in the proper way, send the poisoned air down out of our way, so that we can take fresh air at each breath.
Think of the wonderful love and wisdom shown in all the works of God, and you will love and praise Him who "has done all things well." (Mark 7:37)--Present Truth, July 28, 1898.