Tag Archives: God

Benefits to believing in a Creator God

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“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”   Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

As my mind wandered the other day while I attended a very important business meeting I began to list the reasons why I believe in a Creator God.  (Yes, I admit my mind wanders during meetings, and Yes, I think in lists.)

Because the Bible says God created the heavens and the earth…
This is probably the most important reason.  God says it, that settles it.  It is often difficult to balance faith and reason, the weight of scientific evidence and the Word of God, but I must remember that this is the Word of God, and it is the rule of faith and life.  All of my thoughts and actions must be brought into submission to the Word of God.  In the end, all truth is God’s truth, so faith and science must lead us to their author.  For the time being, both my understanding of science and of God’s word are imperfect, so I must default to an inherent trust in the infallible Word of God.

Someone other than me is in control
What a relief to know that I am not at the center of the universe, that I am not the one responsible for causing the stars to shine and the worlds to turn.  Now sometimes I may think that I am, but believing in the God of Creation helps to bring me back to reality.
Francis Chan, in his book, Crazy Love, (chapter 2), puts it this way.  When we are stressed, we are saying that “the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control…How is it possible that we live as though [this life] is about us?… Frankly, you need to get over yourself.  The point of your life is to point to him.”

The God who created me, cares for me
This week I was reminded of the tornado that struck Wichita and Andover back in 1990.  I see on the news today that the volcano in Iceland continues to spew ash into the air, causing worries of water pollution, more volcano and earthquake activity, and financial crisis in Europe.  There are continued reports of war around the world and violence in our own communities.  If I did not know that the God of all creation called me His child, I would easily lose hope.  But God does know me, and in Jesus Christ, He saves me, He calls me by name, and He seals me with His Spirit that I may be assured of my salvation for eternity.  As Brad Stine says, “my self-esteem comes from the fact that the God of all creation loves me and esteems me.”

I have a purpose in life
I heard Cal Thomas say something along the lines of, “If you believe you came from slime, then to slime you will return.  But if you believe that God created you, you will live your life for Him.”  If God created us, it must have been for a reason (Jer 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you…”).  God has given us a purpose, and this is more than just a sense of calling or vocation.  Our purpose in life, to quote the Westminster Divines, is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  Better yet, to quote scripture, is to be “conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29).  We will find different ways of doing this; but our ultimate song will be “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev. 4:11).

May your faith in the Creator God bring you strength and comfort today. 

SDG

How To Celebrate Christmas #4: Praise and Glory

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Here is the final installment of J.M. Boyce’s “How to Celebrate Christmas” from his book The Christ of Christmas.

Finally, the text suggests that we celebrate Christmas by glorifying God and by praising Him: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (Luke 2:20).  To do that is to worship God both by words and in song.

I love the word glory, or glorify.  It is one of the great words of the Greek language.  Long ago, when that language was in its infancy, the word from which glory came  meant “to have an opinion.”  Later it came to mean only “to have a good opinion.”  Finally, by an obvious extension, it meant a person’s true “worth.”  The noun form of the word is doxa, which we have in our own words orthodox, heterodox, and paradox.  Those words mean “a right opinion,” “a wrong opinion,” and “a contradictory opinion” respectively.

When you acknowledge a person’s true worth, which is only another way of saying that you express a proper opinion of him, you may be said to be glorifying him.  That is the sense in which we glorify God.  Moreover, since acknowledging His true worth is the essential meaning of worship – it means to acknowledge God’s worth-ship – to glorify God is to worship Him by words.  It is in that sense a doxology, which means to express a right opinion of God verbally.

That is what the shepherds did, and we are to imitate them.  You can tell if you do by attempting to rehearse God’s attributes. What are they?  The birth of Christ itself teaches us of God’s love; for God loved us so much that He became man in order to die for us.  It also teaches us God’s power, for an incarnation is beyond our ability even to imagine, let alone to bring into being.  In the birth we see God’s wisdom.  We learn of His mercy.  We see His disposition to use little things, to exalt the humble, and to subdue the proud.  We see His grace.  Have you seen those things and confessed them to God and others?

You can do that in song.  For praising God is essentially an act of glorifying God with the whole being, and, in this, music quite naturally takes part.  That is why carols are so much a rightful part of Christmas; for, when sung by those who understand them, they are a means of praise.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King.”

Joy to the world! the Lord is come.

O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold Him
Born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

SDG