Dear Lighthouse,

            Day Three.  The land is dry.  Dust swirls around in the wind across arid desolation.  As far as the eye can see there is only rock and dirt and the oceans of water that lie beyond the mountains.  There is nothing else.  Then, under the blue, cloudless sky a dusty patch of land stirs and gives way to a single pale green shoot that emerges from underneath.  Plants had arrived on planet Earth.  “And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.”  (Gen 1:12-13)

            And, thanks to sin, we’ve been mowing ever since! J  Seriously, have you stopped to meditate on God’s Creation lately?  It is amazing, isn’t it?  Think about all the living things we have that surround us – animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, protozoans, and the much-hated viruses.  We are immersed in life; we are part of it.  And God created it all.

            How did He do it?  Cosmologists – those who study the origin of the universe – believe they understand what happened during creation all the way down to about 10^-23 seconds.  That’s pretty small!  But what a difference a split, split, split second made!  Ultimately science fails to understand how God actually created the beginning.  Largely this is due to the fact that God cannot be quantified and distilled down.  God is beyond our understanding in many respects.  Genesis 1:1 simply states “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”.  It doesn’t go into the mechanics of it all.  But what we do see is that God was before it all and created it all.  God was there – Day Zero.

            And with God was “The Word”.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.”  (John 1:1-2)  From study we know that John is referring to Jesus Christ, the Messiah that was to come later.  But He was with God even then and knew His future role in the salvation of mankind.  We read on, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.  In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:3-4)  Ah, there’s a key.  Look closely – “in Him was life”.

            According to the Big Bang theory the universe was made over a long period of time (15 billion years) as simple elements collected themselves and were fused by the force of gravity into suns.  These stars crunched these simple elements like hydrogen into larger and larger elements like carbon and iron.  After millennia of star explosions (novas) these heavier elements formed planets.  According to evolutionary thought these elements were shaped by stressors in the environment and unprecedented chemical reactions into the building blocks of life.  Simple organisms arose first and later evolved into more complex systems.  The driving forces behind these events were the fundamental forces of physics and chemistry and one of science’s hole cards – chance.

            After much study on these issues I actually buy a lot of it.  I agree with many of the theories (but not macro-evolution).  However, what I am alarmed at is the Godless reliance upon chance in our scientific creation models.  No matter how far you want to stretch it man has never and will never be able to do two things:  1) make something out of nothing; and 2) make life out of non-living matter.  These are the specialties of our God.  God created the universe.  God created life.  The power to create and bestow life resides solely with our Creator, God.  Think about that, “in Him was life” – even all the way back at the beginning.

            About Jesus Paul writes, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.  He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.”  (Col 1:15-17)  Wow.  What a statement.  Paul spells it out for us.  God is One.  God created all the things we can see and even things we cannot (energy, dimensions, forces…) long ago.  Life and the universe actually hold together because of Him.  Amazing.  This is not revealed in many textbooks, but it is essential to our understanding of the kind of world in which we live.  Each day, each step we take, each breath we have is a result of God’s creative acts and life-giving benevolence.  Praise His Name!

            And you know, His life-giving character is still at work today.  I don’t mean just babies being born, although that is also evidence.  I mean spiritual life is still freely given to Man.  Plants were created on Day Three.  Look what fitting analogy Jesus uses to describe Himself in John 15:1-8.  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful….Remain in Me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing…This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

            God is still creating and growing things – His people.  That is you and me.  God is in the business of growing us.  We need only to be receptive to His efforts, willing to soak up His water and nutrients, and remain attached to the Master.  Sometimes we get caught up in ourselves and our own business and we tend to lose focus.  Our efforts within the Lighthouse and in HCC at large must be centered on God – nothing else will do.  Our goals must be focused upon Him and none other.  We are merely the branches of His vine.  Yes, our efforts are important, but only if they bear fruit for the gardener.  Look at verse 8 again, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit…”.  We glorify God in our service, but it is God who gives our service life and depth.  Again I look to Paul to sum it up, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”  (I Cor. 3:7)  How awesome is His Name!  What a gardener!

            I just want to encourage you this week, as you go about mowing or planting or landscaping, to think about God’s life-giving efforts that He is expending on you.  Are you producing fruit to glorify Him or do you need pruned?  Our scientific theory today was shaped by Godly men who pioneered their fields (Copernicus, Linnaeus, Pascal, Newton).  To paraphrase the old joke, these men didn’t miss the Creator for all the creation.  (see Rom. 1:20)  I encourage you to be the same.  Don’t overlook God this week – He’s everywhere.  Don’t forget you’re connection to the Vine that gives life and leads you on to discipleship.  Stay connected in Bible study and prayer.  Stay connected with other branches in fellowship.  Look beyond yourself and remain in Him.  Live a life that won’t make God regret Day Six.

Serving Him with you,

Evan