GLORYING IN CREATION

John Piper recalled eleven resolutions Clyde Kilby, professor at Wheaton College and C.S. Lewis scholar, made for staying alive to God’s glory in creation.

1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said: “There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.”

3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but, just as likely, ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.

4. I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.

5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are, but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewiscalls their “divine, magical, terrifying, and ecstatic” existence.

7. I shall follow Darwin’s advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably as Lewissuggests, an old book and timeless music.

8. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, “fulfill the moment as the moment.” I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.

9. If for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.

10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the Architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.

11. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of LewisCarroll, the “child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder.”  (John Piper, The Pleasures of God, p.79)

Our existence, and the existence of the universe, is a gift to be gratefully received, to be opened up and used. There should be a sense of thanksgiving about life. We give thanks for gravity, and the processes of nature. We give thanks for freedom to choose, and deliverance from a fatalistic view of life. Those who do not know their Creator and Savior cannot enjoy their blessings in the same way. To dismiss God as unnecessary to life is to diminish your life. It is dangerous, arrogant, and senseless. Instead of thinking that God is not required I would say that God is essential for our existence and wellbeing. There is no substitute. You cannot reduce life to a random collection of molecules. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life in all its fullness.” (John 10:10)

I can recall attending the funeral of a respected and successful surgeon, the father of one of our daughter’s classmates. He was a charming gentleman but had no faith in God. The service was devoid of hope. It consisted of nostalgic reminiscences with no sense of a future or eternal life. It was very sad and depressing. Unbelief is a dead end.

How necessary is God to you? The more necessary God is to you, the more real he becomes. Six hundred years before Christ, the Greek poet Epimenides wrote, “In him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)  God is absolutely necessary to us because “he himself gives all men life, and breath and everything else.” (Acts 17:25)

As you breathe every breath, breathe in the Spirit of God. As you look at the world around you and above you, ask for the Light of the World to illumine your sight. As you touch, taste and hear, be touched by the healing hand of Christ, taste of his goodness, and hear his voice speaking to you. Do you find it hard to believe? Then pray:

Open my eyes,  that I may see

Glimpses of truth you have for me.

Place in my hands the wonderful key,

That shall unclasp and set me free.

 

Open my ears,  that I may hear

Voices of truth you send me clear;

And while the wave-notes fall on my ear,

Everything false will disappear.

 

Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine.

(Clara H. Scott)