Genesis 1.1 – 2.3

As I reflected on this passage, I was struck by the disparity between what the world says about the origins of life and what God says, and the implications for the question of purpose. Whether it’s the Egyptians view of a battle between the gods, or the atheistic evolutionary view that we are a cosmic accident…the result of time and chance, the resulting impact on the way we view ourselves, each other and planet earth is the same…negligible, forgettable, expendable.

I shared a tweet this past week, “Genesis presents a better, higher view of the world we live in…a world that reflects the creative genius of its benevolent Creator.” Several years ago, there was a movie that came out called “Contact”. Jodie Foster is the main character. As a little girl, looking through her first telescope, she was blown away by the enormity of the universe and came to the conclusion that there must be other intelligent beings out there…with billions of stars, surely the conditions that allowed for the cosmic accident that is life on planet earth was repeated elsewhere, because if not, what a waste. Looking at planet earth from a non-biblical perspective can easily lead you to that conclusion. The earth is an average planet with an average sun in an average solar system within an average galaxy…but from a biblical perspective, as Moses tells God’s story, the sun moon and stars, the universe itself is created for the benefit of earth-dwellers. My God is a big God who does big things. He does nothing halfway. And though some might consider the earth ordinary, God delights to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. He brings order from chaos, life from death, where sin abounds, grace superabounds…

Paul says in Romans 1 that there is sufficient evidence of God’s existence. His fingerprints are all over His creation. But when we deny that He exists, when we ignore that evidence, then become fools and worship creation rather than the Creator. Whether that worship takes the form of idols carved from wood, animals or celestial beings, or our own intellect…taking the God out of the equation always leads to idolatry.

The Israelites were an average people…not the most numerous, or most powerful, or smartest, or best looking…but God would use them as a conduit of blessing for the world. Paul, writing to the Corinthians says, “God has chosen the weak things of the world to profound the strong…” He’s chosen us, called us, rescued us…for extraordinary purposes. My God is a big God who delights to do big things, to take the average, the ordinary and make it extraordinary.

But what about you? How do your beliefs about the origins of life, the creation of the world impact your worldview? How does it impact the way you view yourself? Others? The environment? The Israelites were a people submerged in a hostile culture that offered a competing worldview…a worldview that was diametrically opposed to a biblical worldview. And like them, we too are submerged in a hostile culture that offers a competing worldview that opposes a biblical worldview. And like the Israelites we have a choice to follow God or be overwhelmed, taken in and deceived by a culture whose conclusion about life is that it’s meaningless.

Take the time this week to look up at the stars…creation should point us to the Creator. The result is always worship…of one or the other. My prayer for us this week is that we would be absolutely blown away by the lavishness of God who spared no expense to have a relationship with us…from the extravagance of creation to the superabundance of His grace. And may we with the psalmist proclaim, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!”

G.K. Chesterton, “The most important thought you will think today will be your thought about God.”

Until next time…stay salty.

This week we started our new Genesis series. Listen online at: http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster