DAY 2: THE WORLD
Read Romans 8:18-21; Colossians 1:19-20.
We live in a fallen world. Its bent is self-serving and for those things that are opposed to God. The world is fallen, but it does not mean God is not in the world. His power and glory are present in creation and today most prominently in the Church (at least it’s supposed to be). Many of His attributes are present in mankind, albeit perverted in many ways. The world is fallen, but He is not absent. What does that mean? Does that mean there is some redeeming value in this world? There must be something or else why would God want to redeem it?
Indeed, there is a redeeming value, but it is not because there is any intrinsic value in creation. It is valuable for no other reason than God has placed a high value on it. The world didn’t earn it. The world didn’t fix itself up pretty to make it more valuable (in fact, it did the opposite). Perhaps more than a redeeming quality to God’s creation is that there is an endearing quality.
My little brother used to have a beloved stuffed animal as a child. Of all the different animals available, his was a chicken. Not a chick, but a chicken. (How many stuffed chickens do you see today?) Over the years that chicken showed the wear and tear of love. The fur was nearly non-existent. Just tiny patches of fuzz on cloth. It was missing its eyes. Just this mangy yellow fabric thing with a little, red felt beak. As we got older we, we brothers were pretty mean, and we used to put the chicken (“chicky” was his name) in the large trash dumpster in our cul-de-sac. And my brother would cry and run out to the dumpster and dig him out. “Chicky” was beloved. Despite his tattered appearance, there was an endearing quality to him.
God created the world. And despite all of its ugliness, it has an endearing quality to Him. God so loved his creation that he wants to redeem it back for Himself. He wants to pull it out of the dumpster, so to speak — not because the world deserves it, but because He is its Creator, and He loves what He created. He may not be pleased with the direction it is going, but it is His creation nonetheless, and He is purposing to bring it back to Himself.
Oh, that we might have that same vision of the world. Fallen, but loved. Ugly, but endearing in some sense.
To consider:
How does knowing that there is an endearing quality in God’s creation affect your attitude about the people and things around you (e.g. co-workers, family, friends, the environment, etc.) – especially those that aren’t so endearing to you?
