What has happened to God’s perfect creation?
The famous image of a crying child in the aftermath of war’s devastation vividly illustrates our relationship with the world around us, a creation devastated by the war of man’s rebellion against God. The world we were all born into is not the same world that God created. Sin has damaged the perfect creation of God.
In the beginning…
There is nothing ambiguous about the Lord’s assessment of His creation. Step by step He saw that it was good. When He breathed the breath of life into Adam and Eve, His assessment was “Good, very good.” There was no pollution in world, no blood lust in the beasts of the field, the birds of the air or the fish in the sea. There were no raging storms of rain or snow. There was no lust in the hearts of Adam and Eve, no shame, no envy, no jealousy, and no competition. Why? because humankind had not fallen into sin–rebellion against God and His order.
That creation is no longer.
The rebellions of Eve and Adam changed God’s perfect creation into a flawed project and began a downward spiral that continues today. From this rebellion comes competition, jealousy, envy, shame, lust, and hate in the hearts of people. From this original sin comes
- blood lust in man and beast and
- the resulting pollution in the world and
- raging storms within as well as outside the human heart.
God made the human body; man polluted it with toxic chemicals and equally toxic behaviors. God created a planet teaming with life; man strips the earth of life and, given time, renders God’s rarest creatures extinct.
The Source of Devastation
For the homosexual to say that God made him/her that way is incorrect. “Male and Female created He them,” the Bible says. All variations and mutations of this original order are the result of sins, not necessarily those of the victim, but those of all humankind. The damaged individual bears no direct guilt than the crack baby who is born addicted, but the sinful destruction is still there.
The Source of Restoration
As in all such aberrations, the answer is found in Jesus. He has the power to reverse the effects of sin, not just those of the individual, but those of a fallen creation. The Bible says this damaged earth is groaning and crying for relief.
Romans 8:22 NIV
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
When we see a former Olympic champion displayed as a woman when he is really a man, creation is groaning. When we see a church blessing behavior that is a clear violation of New Testament teaching, their “wedding” song is really the sound of a weeping creation.
This groaning and crying can only be countered by another sound, that of the church worshiping, witnessing, and praying for Jesus to come and heal the world. It will happen someday and the world will be redeemed as the miracle of New Creation makes all things new. Until then, Jesus comes to each of us offering this same miracle on a personal scale. It is called Salvation.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NIV
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
The weeping child in the historic photo is long gone. We can be sure the devastated city has been rebuilt. Have we learned the lesson of their history? Jesus is the rebuilder. In Isaiah’s words
Isaiah 61:4 NKJV
And they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repaired the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.
He does this from the heart out and He is skillful and thorough. Trust Him!
Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer
For more on what we can do:
“Choices” at https://stevephifer.com/choices/
“Overcoming Evil with Good” at https://stevephifer.com/how-to-overcome-evil-part-one/
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