Theology Thursday: Creation
First of all, we are very much looking forward to the All Things New Documentary Premier/Fundraiser at Murray Hill Theatre! This is a very important night for us, so please click here to learn a little bit more and save May 21 on your calendar.
For the past few weeks, I have been doing a blog I called "Theology Thursday" and I have just been posting it on Facebook each week and not sending it out through email. This week is the exception because I wanted you to know what the writing is like and if you want to read it, just know to look for it each Thursday on the All Things New Facebook page. Here is this week's version:
When is the last time you felt small? I don't mean the "standing next to a 6'9 basketball player or a 300 pound offensive lineman" type of small, I mean legitimately tiny.
Have you ever stood in front of the ocean at night and just listened to the waves crash against the sand over and over again?
Have you ever stood at a beautiful lookout point on the top of a mountain and looked down at the top of the trees?
Have you ever considered the size of our galaxy just to be reminded that there are billions of other ones out there and that the universe seems to be constantly expanding?
Have you ever stepped out of your house before the sun came up and just felt the quiet vastness of a world that feels asleep?
One of my favorite things about GOD's creation is that almost everything about it is fantastic. Think about the sheer diversity of GOD's creation:
- The observable laws of physics, the laws of thermodynamics, gravity, the temperature of the earth that all work together to give us life. How on earth could we believe it was all by chance?
- The beauty of a work of art and how a piece of canvas can be combined with pigments and solvents (paint) in a way that takes your breath away and makes you feel emotions that they should not be able to make you feel.
- The idea of love, and how you can fall so madly in love with another person that you would literally do anything for them. If you have ever fallen in love with someone. like I have with Jessica, then you know it does not make sense, but at the same time it makes more sense than anything else in the world.
- The power of the ocean, the majesty of the mountains, the beauty of a sunset, and the way each of these things can make you feel so insignificant.
- The intricate workings of different ecosystems and how the addition or subtraction of even the smallest plant or animal can completely change how everything else operates and even survives.
My point in all of this is extremely simple. The created world is maybe the simplest and most straightforward witness for the Glory of GOD. The combination of logic and order in tandem with beauty and creativity is unmatched.
In a normal day, we may ask a friend where they got their shoes, who designed their purse, or who cut their hair. The underlying assumption with all of these questions is that someone had to be the impetus behind them occurring. We do not assume shoes just showed up or your hair just fell out in the exact right places to make it look like someone cut it.
At the same time, we have the audacity to look at GOD's creation and assume that it was chance. When Ezekyal leaves his Black Panther toy in the middle of his room, my first assumption is that he didn't clean it up, not that certain events occurred outside of anyone's control that all added up to this point in time and that the Black Panther ended up there with no help. So why, when we look at the ferocity, vastness, and beauty of the ocean do we say, "well let me explain the chance scientific events that occurred in infinity past (which, logically, if the universe is infinite then it is impossible for anything to exist, think about that) that made the ocean what it is.
Let me close with a couple of verses and a challenge:
Romans 1:20: "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
Colossians 1:15-16: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him."
My challenge for myself and anyone else reading this is simple...Take the time to feel small. Take the time to purposefully take in GOD's creation even if it is as simple as standing on your front porch and looking to the sky. It is so easy for us to be the center of our own universe, but that quickly goes away when you realize just how small we are and just how great GOD is. This realization should drive us to our knees in worship to our Great GOD.