Implications: Responsibility (4) Don't miss it
We've talked about our responsibility to care for creation, to learn from creation and to let creation inspire us to worship the Creator, but there is a somber warning that rounds off our responsibilities to creation.In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul argues that Creation is a signpost that more than adequately reveals God's power and divinity and this means that there is no excuse for unbelief because creation makes God plain to those who would open their eyes...
I find it fascinating that more and more biologists and physicists are talking about "intelligent design". They are seeing a complexity and orderliness in creation that makes it clear that our world is not here by random chance. Many are saying that it actually takes more faith to belief that this all came into being by accident than it does to believe that this vast universe has a Creator.
But Paul goes further: Creation reveals a certain orderliness and balance that also serves as a warning to humanity that takes itself too seriously. Creatures are frail and temporary. When we forget that we are part of a bigger system, when we forget that we are creatures, when we take but don't give back and when we upend the natural order of things, then we unleash chaos and heartache.
Paul looked at the greed and immorality that Rome had plunged into and suggests that they had ignored the truths that creation points to.
I think it is very true that when society loses its sense of wonder when observing creation there is likely to be a crumbling of the moral, spiritual and ethical fibre of that society.
We mustn't miss the message of creation!!
| The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 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 humankind are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans1:18-25) |
