18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For 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.
As we approached an exhibit that explained evolution of man and the similarities and differences between man and ape, I heard a women as she spoke to a young boy. Later it became evident this was not her son, maybe she was an Aunt or a good friend or a Nanny possibly. As the boy studied the exhibit, she said to him- and this is paraphrased just to give you the gist- "Now, this is explaining that humans came from monkeys. Its not what I believe happened. I think that humans were created separate from all other animals. This is the kind of thing your mom would not want me talking about with you so its just my opinion but there is absolutely NO evidence that this is so. All of this is propaganda...."On and on she went. The poor boy could not have been more than 8 years old. I have been interested in the field of science since I was in kindergarten. I learned about Darwin and evolution in the tenth grade and I can remember the front of the text book as it depicted "ape becomes man" exactly. It was a hard time in my life because my faith had already become very important to me so it caused me to ponder deeply about this evolution vs. creationism debate. I will be the first to say that none of us knows with absolute certainty how we, the human race, found ourselves here, on earth. We simply were not present, however to say that there is absolutely no evidence... Okay, before I get bogged down in an evolution vs. creationism debate this is not a post on evolution. The point is, none of us really knows. What we do know and what is important is found in verses 19 and 20 of the first chapter of Romans- "Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them 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"(emphasis mine).
Through God's creation- from the gigantic dinosaur bones, to the black bear, the brown bear, the grizzly bear, the polar bear, the walrus, the elephant seal that each amazes us with their size, to the smallest most delicate of insects, to the opossum, yes even to the opossum that I joked about yesterday- through all these created things he has revealed to us (made plain to us) everything that we need to know about him. His invisible qualities - eternal power and divine nature are seen clearly through what has been made (i.e. his creation).
His eternal power makes me think of the time lapse between dinosaurs and humans. Possibly millions of years in between, like 65 million maybe? Is that what I read? Seems eternal to me. And to breathe life into just one of those enormous animals - thats power. And to wipe them all out completely- again, powerful.
His divine nature is proven by the fact that humans have not yet figured out how to bring a single animal into existence and God put every single thing that we saw in that museum yesterday into being. Hundreds of thousands of species He put here. Us- not one species. He is divine. His nature is divine.
These two qualities of God can be seen through what he has made so therefore we are without excuse (so the bible says). So are you sitting over there thinking (like I was), "Oh yeah, totally, I believe God made all those things and I totally respect that so.... I'm good to go, right?"? Hold up, wait, go back to verse 18. That one makes it a little more complicated. Am I wicked? Do I suppress the truth? I sure hope I am not godless....
Here's where it gets tricky but also where we can challenge ourselves. Since we believe in God as creator and king of the universe, we are held to a higher standard, we hold more responsibility to avoid wickedness and godlessness, to avoid the suppression of the truth. In fact, it is our purpose to do quite the opposite- to spread the truth, to strive for righteousness, and to make our God a part of everything we do and say (God-fullness if you will). But how do we go about this? I do not have all the answers but I do have one answer. It may not be complete or the best way but its a start. Each decision we make in our daily lives either stifles the truth or begins to set it free. Each story you tell, each phone call you make, every text you send tells the other person more about who you are and if you are a believer in Christ, it tells a little about the God you serve. This is a huge responsibility- about as huge as a T. Rex skeleton and as complicated as a whale's digestive system. So my advice and prayer for myself is as follows:
Lord, he me- help us, not to persist in sin. Help us instead to turn from it with all our measly might and may all your eternal power help us. Help us in each and every decision we make so that we move closer and closer to your righteousness and so that we do not stifle the truth. Help us Lord not to be selfish and not to believe lies that lead to a selfish lifestyle but to instead steer our longings toward the worship and pleasure of your divine nature.
Through your creation you have left us no excuse Lord. In your mercy help us to open our eyes, ears and hearts. Fill our mouths with less excuses and more worship and thanksgiving for the things you have revealed to us, the things you have made plain to us about your eternal power and divine nature through your stunning creation. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment