pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Creation


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Simply Love 

Reading: Hosea 11: 5-11

We have a varied view of God.  Since God is vast and far beyond human understanding, it makes sense that we cannot pin down an exact image or view of God.  On one end of the spectrum we see God as judge and in that role God decides on consequences and hands out punishment for our choices.  On the other end we see God as love, giver of new mercies every morning and of endless grace and other blessings.

God is just and in our relationship expects obedience and faithfulness from us.  In the Old Testament God gave the people the covenant to uphold and the Law to follow, with its accompanying sets of sacrifices.  In the New Testament God brought the new covenant into being through the life and witness of Jesus Christ.  In the latter part of the New Testament and for us today, God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us.  Even though we have all of this to help us be obedient and to follow God’s will and ways for our lives, we so often fail.  Even when we fail, God loves us.  Even when we fail time after time, God continues to love us.

The constant giving of love, mercy, and forgiveness that we experience from God transforms our lives.  We are made new creations, without blemish, every time we seek God’s throne of grace.  We are drawn in over and over and over again into God’s transforming love, marvelling that it is never withheld, that it is never conditional, and that it is given without cost.  God simply loves us, imperfect and sinful as we are.  God simply loves us.  For this we say, thanks be to God.


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Unending Love, Amazing Grace 

Reading: Amos 7: 10-17

Can you remember getting in trouble when you were little?  When we were first learning to follow the rules often there were times when we simply felt that the rule did not apply to us or that the rule was wrong.  The ‘rules’ and following them were outside of our own little world.  Sad thing is that this is still occasionally the case for us in adulthood.  The pull of what we want outweighs what we see as the immediate consequences and we stray outside the lines.

King Jeroboam had strayed outside the lines.  The king and the nation of Israel have engaged in sinful living.  They have oppressed the poor, worshiped false gods, and no longer follow God’s laws.  Earlier in the book of Amos, God had issued a call to repentance through the prophet.  The king and people ignored it.  Even after God has threatened to destroy the kingdom and to send the people into exile, Israel continues to live in sin.  Because of their great self-centeredness, they angrily refuse to be accountable to God and they tell Amos to go away.

Can you recall a time when you were enjoying life just a bit too much?  Can you remember a time when you justified a poor choice or behavior because you were enjoying the results or the outcome?  At times and in seasons of our faith it can be all too easy to get off track and to find ourselves where we should not be.  Despite nudges to repent from the Holy Spirit and calls from friends and family, we struggle to break free and step back inside of God’s love and guidance.

But God continues to work on our hearts and our family and friends pray and keep trying to hold us accountable.  We come to see our sin and repent.  God, in His unlimited love and grace, pours out forgiveness and we are restored to a right relationship with Him.  Our sin is wiped away in the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.  We are humbled by God’s amazing grace and unending love.  We find ourselves transformed and have grown in our faith.  As a new creation in Christ we are ready to again live as a child of God.  We look back and wonder how we ever got ‘there’.  We promise to never go there again, but Satan does not give up.  Sin and temptation never go away.  Yet we also know that God is greater than he who is living in this world.  His amazing grace and unending love will always triumph.  For this we shout, thanks be to God!!


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All of the Time

Reading: Psalm 8: 2

Even though God and His creation draw praise and worship from some, others do not see the beauty and majesty of His creation or acknowledge His power and might.  Instead of lives that steward and protect His world and all He has created, some choose to abuse the earth and its inhabitants for their own gain.  Some even go so far as to murder, to wage war, to pillage the land for its resources.  They ignore or deny God’s existence because it eases their consciences.

In nature we also find occurrences or events that seem to fly in the face of God and His love.  Tsunamis and earthquakes destroy property and kill scores if not hundreds of people.  Disease strikes and takes innocent lives, often too soon or too young.  Individuals or groups carry out heinous crimes or spew hate and we shake our heads.  There is much pain and death and sorrow in this world.  But God does not cause these things to happen.  Violent storms are part of nature; disease and death come to perishable and frail human bodies; and, at times, mental illness occurs or Satan’s plans occasionally win the day.

We can ask where is God in the midst of all this.  We can ask why God doesn’t intervene to keep all harm from His children.  These are hard questions.  But we know the rain falls on the just and on the unjust.  God loves the sinner just as much as the saint.  God does plan good for our lives.  He blesses us with gifts and talents and often with many resources.  He seeks to be in a personal relationship with us.  In the midst of our trials, God sheds tears right along with us.  He seeks to be our rock in the storm, our comforter in the pain.  Simply put, God seeks to be present to us all of the time, in the good and in the bad, not just on some days.  May we too do the same.


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Wisdom

Reading: Psalm 8: 1-4 and 22-31

God’s wisdom calls out to us, seeking to fill us with an understanding and awe of God.  Wisdom calls out from many places to all of mankind.  There are many worthy things she wants to share with humanity.

Wisdom has existed since the beginning – she was there before the formation of the earth and before time began.  Before there were oceans and land, mountains and sky, wisdom was there.  She saw the creation of all things, therefore she understands God’s power and might.  This is part of what wisdom desires to share with us.

Wisdom also wants us to be filled as she is, day by day delighting in God’s presence and power.  Day by day wisdom rejoices in His presence and marvels at His creation.  Day by day she delights in mankind, made in God’s image.  Wisdom recognizes the power and might of God and offers her praise and worship.

This day may we also draw upon wisdom, seeing the power and might of God in the creation and in each other.  Through this, may we too offer our praise and worship.


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Such a God

Reading: Psalm 8

The psalmist writes, “when I consider your heavens, the works of your fingers”.  As we imagine the vastness of the universe we are amazed that God created it all.  But scripture also reveals that God calls each star by name.  It is humbling to be in a relationship with such a God.

When one looks at the relatively small slice of the universe that is planet earth, again we see a complex, widely varied, and stunning creation of His hand as well.  The human mind cannot begin to wrap itself around the intricacy and detail of our world.  Again, it is humbling to think of being in a relationship with such a powerful and huge God.

Add to His creative magnificence the order that is layered over the top of it all and one is left speechless.  If earth were just a fraction closer to or further from our sun, the earth would be radically different.  Life might not even exist on our planet.  So many things function and just are in our world, seemingly moving along on their own.  But we know from the Word that God continues to watch over the plans and mechanisms that He set in motion at the beginning of time.

The psalmist goes on to ask, “what is man that you are mindful of him?”  It is again so humbling to realize that God chose mankind to be over creation.  He placed humanity just under the heavenly beings.  What a special place to occupy in the created order.  And what a task!

In spite of all the wonder of creation, still more amazing is that our God knows each hair on our head and calls each one of us by name.  The God who made and knows billions of billions of stars by name and set this vastly complex world into motion also knows each of us by name.  Not only that, but He also seeks and desires to be in a personal relationship with each one of us.  Our response?  To bring Him praise and glory and honor in all we do.


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Spiritual Life

Reading: Psalm 104: 24-34 & 35b

In the Psalm today we see the timelessness of the Holy Spirit.  The psalmist writes of the Holy Spirit coming and breathing life into all of the creatures of the earth.  We see a similar giving of life in Ezekiel 37 where the dry bones are covered in tissues and flesh but require the Breath or Spirit to come into them to give life.

At Pentecost, the life given is a spiritual life, not a physical life.  When the Holy Spirit descended on those first believers, they were physically alive.  But when the Spirit entered them they were born anew, not of flesh and bone, but of the Spirit of God.  They were each made into a new creation as they were filled with a power and presence unlike anything before.  The living and active presence of God was now here to dwell in the hearts of all who call on Jesus as Lord and Savior.  The physical sign of the flames that descended on each there that first Pentecost demonstrated that the Holy Spirit is not limited to one place or time and is not limited in its presence.

Just as the Spirit breathes physical life into all things, the Spirit can breathe spiritual life into all of humanity.  Just as the power and presence empowered the first disciples to take the message of Jesus to Jerusalem, Samaria, and across the known world, so too does the same Holy Spirit enable us to take the same good news out into the whole world.  Just as the first disciples allowed the Holy Spirit to set them on fire for sharing the good news, may we also be lit ablaze with the light and love of Jesus Christ as well!


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New Creations

Reading: John 14: 8-17 and 25-27

In today’s passage, Jesus promises the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Like most of us, Philip wants the gift now.  He asks Jesus to show them the Father.  And in a familiar pattern, Jesus patiently explains that He has been showing them the Father all along.  Jesus explains that the words and the works are because the Father is in Him and He is in the Father.  Then Jesus tells them again of this gift of the Holy Spirit.  With this gift the disciples will experience the indwelling presence of God and Jesus within them.  And not only will it be in the disciples, but the Spirit will allow them to do even greater works than Jesus did.  The presence of the Holy Spirit is just one more step in bringing the new creation into being.

Jesus was also a step.  In His example and in the works He did, Jesus began the process of making all things new.  In His teachings He showed a new way, a better way – the way of love.  In truly loving others, we reveal the true nature of God.  Jesus also began the new creation by restoring people.  For some it was a physical restoration: the blind see, the lame walk, the mute speak.  For some, like the lepers, there was also an emotional healing as they were restored to the community as well.  For still others, the restoration was the first steps to returning to a relationship with God.  Jesus was making all things new, providing a glimpse of what the new heaven and earth will be like.

Jesus continued this work with the gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples at Pentecost and to all who have called on Him as Lord and Savior ever since.  The same Spirit dwells in each of us, giving us the power to reveal the new creation that is in motion.  Through our lives, words, actions, and deeds, people in our lives can begin to see, understand, and experience what Jesus offers: to be made a new creation.  May we be willing servants in the building of His kingdom here on earth.


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Breath of New Life

Reading: Psalm 104: 24-34 & 35b

When God created the world, He gave the breath of life to all living things.  Each day since then, He has breathed new life into each that is born.  But for humanity, God has taken one more step.  For all who call on His name, God offers grace.  He breathes the Holy Spirit into each who professes their faith in Christ and makes each a new creation, children not of the world but children of God.  As a child of God we continue to live for a time in the world, but we are no longer of this world.  As heirs of Christ, we now belong to Him and heaven is our destination.

Once we claim Christ and He claims us, the Spirit comes and dwells in us.  We begin to live as free people, no longer chained to the desire to acquire more, to rise higher, to seek the approval of man.  Instead we are freed to give, to love, to serve.  In the body of Christ, we experience life abundant.  As the body of Christ we find support, encouragement, guidance, help, and fellowship in Him and in each other.  In our interactions with the world we meet many people who do not know Jesus as king.  The body of Christ is an inclusive body.  In Him there is no Jew or Gentile, no this or that.  The peace and joy we know in Christ is ours to share so that all can come to know the way of the cross.

As a redeemed people we are called to make disciples of all nations.  This task is the task of every Christian.  Sometimes we do this directly as we go to those in need and meet their needs.  The need can be physical, emotional, spiritual, or relational.  We do as Christ did and simply offer all we can.  Sometimes our witness is by how we live our lives.  The light of Christ within us should shine forth so that all see it and are drawn to it – eventually wanting to know how they can have that joy, peace, contentment, and love in their lives.  They come to desire that God breathes the breath of new life into them as well.  In all we do and say this day, may we bring God the glory!


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New Heaven

Reading: Revelation 21: 1-6

Today’s reading reminds us that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth.  In this new and restored creation God will dwell among His people, just as He did at the beginning of creation when He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden.  All things will be made new and there will be no more pain or tears or violence or anything else that is sinful.  All will dwell in God’s love and presence.

At times, when experiencing a very difficult trial or when our health becomes very poor, we long for this new heaven and earth to be here now.  The idea of such a place where all is right and new sounds so good in the midst of the valley.  For many whose faith is solid, death is simply the first step into God making them new and whole again.

But this passage is not only about a time and place somewhere in the future.  It is a present tense promise as well.  In verse five it reads, “I am making everything new!” and in verse six we are promised water from the spring of eternal life.  God will not only restore the whole earth one day, He wants to begin to make each of us into a new creation in Him.  God’s desire is for us to begin living into this new life now.  Once we enter into a personal relationship with God, He offers new mercies each day, a restoration of the brokenness in our lives each day.

The days of abundant and joyous life do not have to wait until we enter heaven or until when the new heaven and earth comes.  God wants us to begin to experience a taste of that life here and now.  Through trusting in God now, we begin to experience His promises and blessings now.  May we live each day with God’s love and restoring power as a daily, present reality.


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Praise the Lord!

Reading: Psalm 148

Praise certainly is the main idea of Psalm 148!  At the beginning is a general call to praise the Lord.  The  praise quickly begins in the heavens with the angels, moon, stars, and sun.  Each is called to praise God for both their own creation and for their eternal place in God’s creation.  Then the Psalm shifts to the earth and calls all to praise the Lord.  The psalmist calls upon the elements and parts of nature that God stirs to life.  Also called are all of the living creatures and all of humanity – from Kings to children to the old.

All of this leads us to see that in our daily life we should offer our praise.  Our praise should be deeply rooted in our prayer life, letting God know how grateful we are for all He has blessed us with.  Our praise should also shine out through our lives in such a way to bring glory to God in all we do.  Just as all of creation reveals God and is called upon to bring Him praise, so should all of our lives.

The Psalm draws near its end recognizing that God alone is to be exalted.  We are to  worship none other than God.  We are not to worship any other being or any other thing.  But in a world that pushes pleasure, self-satisfaction, and individual preferences, this is tough to do.  To worship Him alone takes discipline, dedication, and effort.  Even with  heaping amounts of these, we cannot obey on our own.

At the very end of the Psalm, it is written that the Lord has raised up a horn which is the “praise of all His saints”.  This strong and mighty King is Jesus, the perfector and witness of our faith.  In Him we find the example of how to live a life of praise that brings glory and praise to God alone.  In Jesus we also find the strength to do what we cannot do on our own.  Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we find guidance, direction, correction to help us follow Jesus’ ways and teachings.  May we join all of creation in praising the Lord!!