Obey the Signs: Creation (part 1)
by Paul ~ August 30th, 2010. Filed under: Paul.(Part 1 a series of posts)
There is major construction on Chicago Avenue near our house. There are “Road Closed” and “Detour” signs everywhere. Despite the clear signage, many people still blast on by the Road Closed signs and ignore the detour signs. All day long there are cars lost in our little neighborhood.
It started to make me think of the obvious signs God has given us to point to Himself. Most of us blow on by them, as if they did not mean anything. But God has given them to us to tell us about who He is and to show us how the road of sin we’re traveling down leads to death. If we ignore these clear signs, we get lost and possibly… stay that way.
On the right: road closed sign. In the middle: a car and a truck with a trailer, both of which had to turn around when they reached the actual closed road just a block ahead of the sign.
Sign 1: Creation
Creation itself shows off who God is. As the Bible says:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)
For what can be known about God is plain to them (those who reject God), because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)
Creation shows off both the fact that God is creator and also tells us clearly who He is! Romans 1 tells us that from creation, we should clearly know that God is God and that we should not worship other things. But we do worship other things and slap God in the face in rejection, which is why God’s wrath is upon us sinners (Romans 1:18).
There are many parts of creation that are clear signs pointing to who God is, including:
- Order – The natural laws are unchanging and reliable.
- Beauty – I love the beach. I love the mountains. God created beautiful things and gave us the ability to recognize beauty!
- Balance – The laws and the elements are perfectly balanced to allow the existence of solid things and even life!
- Life – Life is awesome.
- Goodness – There’s a lot of really good things in creation. Like strawberries.
There are whole books arguing about how creation started. But that is not really the issue. Creation obviously points to a creator. Why do so many people deny it? They don’t lack information, but it is obvious. Rather, they have chosen to deny the clear evidence because they choose to make other things their gods – putting their hope, joy, purpose, life in something in creation rather than the creator. That’s sin. As it says in Romans:
21 For although they knew God (through creation), they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23)