10/20/2020
There is so much beauty in this world, and God made it this way to be pleasant for our physical habitation, and to provide us sustenance, but when sin entered it through man it became tainted by him. The dominion he had been given over the creatures of the earth turned from caring for them into such things as widespread slaughter for pelts, deforestation, and reckless over-fishing for monetary gain. Suddenly men were loving the world as mammon, and not as God Intended... by seeing Him glorified in it... He who made it for them.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
1 John 2:15 ESV
Growing up I traveled to many faraway places, and as I have grown older I have continued to see new sights, some faraway, and others close to home. My eyes have beheld wonderful things of immense proportion, and others so small I could not see them with my naked eye. During these travels there have been many times when I have opened my eyes to see the most extraordinary sights... things so naturally beautiful that all I could do was utter the adoring words “ O God, how great Thou art.”
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.”
Psalm 8:1 ESV
I have held creatures in my hands that were so intricate that I found myself in awe of their construction, and like most people, I have also held newborn life to my face and whispered “How precious, Father.” I have walked into forest glens where water trickled in streams, and that were so incredibly lush and green that I wanted to remain there forever... as if standing at the entrance to heaven itself, and there, in this state of worship, I could hear singing from the brook as the rocks raised their voices... singing “Holy, Holy, Holy...” into the distance.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
Psalm 19:1 ESV
Then mankind came, and Adam’s fall from grace required a sacrifice of enormous proportion to repair the damage that was done. In a moment, and a single sin, he had brought the entire world into a state of sinfulness with him. Is it any wonder that as Jesus said these words, He began them with how much God loved the world... not just mankind, but the world.
““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 ESV
Today, without the grace that flows through Jesus Christ we are still lost to sin, and that sinfulness still harms the world, but by believing in Him we will not perish, but have everlasting life, and the world will receive its reprieve from the sin of those who continue to harm it, unrighteous men, who live not to have dominion over it... but rather to claim ownership of what God has created. Yet even now, God still loves us, and the world, and what He created remains shared by both the evil and the good therein.
“so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:45 ESV
In the same way that some men are corrupted, and others are not, so it is with the world. It is here to which both the Christ, and the antichrist have come.
“and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.”
1 John 4:3-5 ESV
In this way we should stop viewing this amazing world, God’s gift to us, as a means of growing wealthy, or desiring God’s wonders to be parcels for us to purchase and call our own. We should stop pridefully bragging to others after having visited remarkable places as men, and start singing of God’s glory at the mere glimpse of His beautiful creation, because we are God’s children, and not of that portion of the world that is inhabited by the antichrist. We are those He calls his own, and as such it should be our desire to sing with the heavenly host, and the rocks as water flows over them. We are disciples of Christ, and worship in a million lush and beautiful glens, and from atop every mountain.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us, and the world that you have made for us to inhabit. Thank you for every creature great and small, and every grain of sand that sings as the tide pulls itself over it. Father you bless us every day with your grandeur if we will only look for it through righteous eyes. You show the little children in slums around the world tiny dandelions, and plants, as they push their way up from crevices too impossibly small to imagine. Miracles in the eyes of children who need to see you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who loves us in ways that awe, amaze, and bring us to wonder. Great are you who reveals yourself in the tiniest of your creations. Your power becoming evident in a single virus cell that can destroy the world without ever showing itself to our searching eyes, and in feeding the the world’s masses with seven loaves and a few fishes. Praised be your name Lord as we gaze upon your creation, and yet tremble before the power we see within in. Hear our prayers father as we thank you for all that you have created, and for placing us here amongst it. Hear our prayers as we confess your Son Jesus as our savior, and you as our God. Hear our prayers as we offer contrition for our sins, and beg you to mercifully cleanse us with the blood of Christ... making us pure, and worthy of an eternity in your presence... singing, and dining at your table forevermore.
Rich Forbes