She glides along, able to shape her body into something eight feet long or balled up into the size of an orange. With her skin, she can taste as well as feel. She can change and become almost any color, and, if she didn't like you, she can shoot you with a powerful stream of water. She is one of the smartest creatures in the ocean deep. She is an octupus.

Experiments done on octupuses in recent years have shown that they are very intelligent -- like us, and yet unlike us. Each octupus has a very definite personality. They can figure out how to unlock a series of mechanical locks on series of locked boxes in record time -- so long as the boxes are transparent, and the prize they will reach when all boxes open is a tasty crab. And each octupus opens the locks a little differently.

They are hard to keep in any tank. They know how to get out, somehow. When being moved from one tank to another, octupuses even allow themselves to be captured by a net, with the ulterior motive, once carried out of their prison, of using the net itself as a kind of trampoline by which they can jump down to the floor and run -- yes, run -- on dry ground, trying to get away from you. Or in the wild they may run onto land to catch something that is getting away from THEM.

And little plastic bottles -- the ones we use every day? Well, octupuses usually figure out those child-proofed things -- and many then like to play with those bottles in the water. "Only intelligent animals play," says one octupus researcher, "animals like crows and chimps, dogs and humans." Octupuses also can distinguish between humans dressed alike (in experiments), and show they like one person and don't like another.

Sure, this message could be about the octupus as an example of the wonders of God's creation. But we are also finding out new wonders about our own brains -- exploding some myths in the process. One myth destroyed is a popular one: "We only use 10 percent of our brain." In fact, studies show that "Any mentally complex activity uses many areas of the brain, and, over a day, just about all of the brain gets a workout." Another finding was that challenging our brains every day to think more and more allows our brains to do more and function longer at a top rate in our lives. In other words, "use it or lose it."

Now what does "use it or lose it" mean in a spiritual context, in our everyday lives? One thing it doesn't mean: it doesn't mean I can lose my salvation in Christ, simply because I am not "working hard enough." But what "use it or lose it" DOES mean is that I take my faith in my ultimate salvation and "make it work for me." One of my favorite verses in this regard is from Philippians 4:12-13, where Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Notice how Paul uses the word "work" three times. We already have God's salvation, and that salvation is like a big gift that, in order to take full advantage of its benefits, we need to open up and use now ("work"), and not just in heaven. What does it mean to seek to do God's will "with fear and trembling"? Well, it DOESN'T mean that we need to be highly anxious and panicky all the time. What it does mean is that we come to every moment highly motivated to do God's will...that we are trying to use all of our heart, soul, mind and strength to please God and love one another.

One way in which we become "highly motivated" is to realize that God has given us a lot to work with. Over the last few weeks in worship Pastor Paul and I have talked about how God has "made us saints," and has "made us rich" with spiritual and material wealth. In the brain research both on octupuses and on us humans, we see that God has blessed us with minds that can do so much more than we give them credit for. We like to think we are limited; we like to make excuses for ourselves; but God has given us so much, we can be confident that God will bless our efforts to fulfill our purpose in life as servants.

When it comes to our wealth in "brains," let us get into the habit of stepping back and saying, "Okay, this is what I normally do; what can I do to make it better? What can I do that better fits God's will?" You may be surprised what God does with these new thoughts of yours! Perhaps an octupus researcher wouldn't be as surprised at your new creativity as you might be!

David Hewitt