The world is manifestly beautiful. Were there no life here, it would still be stunning with serrated peaks, extended plains, oceans deep and skies of clouds and colors. However, it is far from lifeless: the Earth abundantly sustains 8.7 million species, including us. This planet has all the right ingredients to support staggering biodiversity. Every little detail, even the size and placement of the Moon, is fine-tuned to make Earth the perfect planet for life.
Speaking of life, living is amazing. We can be lulled to sleep by the sound of ocean breakers or be spellbound by a rainbow. How is it that the aroma of a rose arouses us so? Our recipes fold fruit, vegetable, spice, fungi, fish and mammal ingredients into a smorgasbord with the added benefit of cultural flavor and flair. Need I point out the power of the human touch?
Further, we benefit from a world that engages our senses and abounds in resources that yield themselves to our imagination. It bowls me over to be typing on a tablet, entering sentences into a server over an expansive network controlled by thousands of miles of microscopic silicon circuits. Everything I just described is made of materials mined from the Earth, and humans are incredibly blessed to have amassed the skill and knowledge to do the seemingly impossible (and enjoy doing it).
On the Earth people grow their food, find their shelter, diversify their cultures, and pursue their passions. As we bask in the light of an enduring sun and contemplate eternity in the stars, most of us can say we love the Creation.
There Is A Creator
For creatures with such intellectual prowess, it amazes me that our advances in the sciences and technology have led us so far from belief in God. If anything, our level of astonishment should lead us to the irrefutable conclusion that every aspect of creation points to our magnificent Creator.
In Genesis, the account of creation states that God made people in His image. Being made in the image of God does not mean we are deities, by any stretch of the imagination, although we will, even after our physical passing, live forever. No, it means that as creatures in the highest level of the created order, given dominion over the Earth, we should recognize Who our Maker is and love and revere Him.
We admire musicians, composers, poets, writers, painters, actors, scientists, inventors, architects, and anyone else who, through originality, ingenuity, research, and creative effort, changed the world. So, when it comes to an invention like the telephone, we are quick to attribute Alexander Graham Bell for its existence; yet for our very existence and the universe we inhabit, we attribute the design and creation to natural processes.
We ought to admire God, whose Creation dwarfs our significant but tiny efforts in comparison. Instead, naturalists hold out one explanation for life, and that is the random occurrence of the right chemicals in the right place at the right time when lightning struck on that fateful day, billions of years ago. I hope even they can admit that the mathematical odds of the subsequent development of life on Earth, to the point it is today, are beyond calculation. A statistician would have to say, “Lucky for us.”
Even if you do not believe in God, think about what kind of being could make all that there is. This fruit of His labor, the universe, says fantastic things about Who He is and His nature. He is clearly glorious, beautiful, eternal and infinite, able to create all matter and energy by the power of His words. He holds all knowledge and has perfect wisdom. What else could explain the marvels of the elements or manifestations of energy? What else could explain the wonder of plants or our consciousness and conscience?
He is not an old, tottering, white-bearded, feeble man upstairs. He is not like the mythical Greek and Roman gods who were more flawed than the humans who imagined them. No, He is awesome in the truest sense of the word, perfect in love, perfect in justice.
The Creator Loves You
The Creation reveals God’s providential love. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, once said, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45b) That is to say, God’s providential love favors no one. It’s His nature, His character, to love all humanity. Yet, and here is where the problems start for many, God is just, and that is evidenced by the pall of death that overshadows the entire planet. So, if there is a loving God, how come He allows death, disease, pain, suffering, injustice, and evil to exist? If He is all-powerful, why doesn’t He act to fix this mess?
And so the questions go on like that. Lots of people find that God being both loving and just is a nut they cannot crack. Little do they realize that the nuts that won’t crack are their own hard hearts.
The world is in chaos because of sin. Death is the consequence of sin, and all Creation was cursed when the first people sinned (Genesis 3:16-19). You and I are no different, and we each in our own sinful way cause hurt, pain, and suffering. As we stand, we are condemned before God and consequently face eternal judgment. It’s not what anyone wants to hear, especially if they want to choose their own morality and make their own rules apart from God’s. God would not be just if He gave some a pass.
However, God’s love for us goes far deeper than divine providence. In fact, it goes beyond any degree of human love to a level people are incapable of expressing or demonstrating. Through His Son Jesus, He emptied Himself of His glory to become a man (Philippians 2:5-8), performed many miracles, taught us about love, grace, mercy, and truth, and never sinned. Ultimately, He was executed at the behest of Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, brutally crucified on a Roman cross. His death was unjust, but it was the plan of God to cause Jesus to suffer and die for the sins of all mankind.
On the third day after His death, God resurrected Him. And He promises to do the same for those who believe in Jesus, who love Him as their Savior, Lord, God and King:
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15:55-57)
Do You Love the Creator?
Look at this world. Do you accept that it created itself, that an infinitely dense dot, a singularity, as Stephen Hawking called it, blew up into the incredible universe, and that we truly trace our roots of life to primordial soup that hypothetically existed four billion years ago? It’s all too wonderful. This vast world and infinite universe are the brilliant and loving work of the one true God.
The Bible promises that if we seek God, we will find Him. I strongly encourage you to read the Bible. It’s online. It’s free. There are free Bible apps for mobile devices. A great first book (there are 66 in the Bible) is the Book of John.
Find followers of Jesus Christ (Christians) and ask them the reason for the hope they have. I believe you’ll learn about their experience of grace and forgiveness for their sins. You’ll see how the Spirit of God is working in their lives, as Ezekiel 36:26 says: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
This offer of grace, forgiveness, hope, joy, and peace is available to all who put their faith in Jesus, the Son of God. Best of all is the promise that believers will spend eternity with the Lord, loving Him and being loved by the One who gave His life as a ransom for them (Matthew 20:28).
If you have questions about God and finding salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, please contact us. We would love to talk to you and pray with you.
