Random GOD Things

“Universe” means “the whole thing.”
To create, in the most fundamental sense, means to bring into existence.
But it is both the emerging scientific consensus today and the clear assertion of Scripture: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Something out of nothing.

Is it a stretch for us to believe that there is a being who can create something out of nothing? Of course it is. In fact, it is more than a stretch, because our minds can’t conceive of God’s greatness. But this power of God is exactly what gives us hope.
Because the creation came out of nothing (ex nihilo), then everything that exists comes from God’s creative act, though the corruptions and sicknesses that have crept in since then are not his creation. This is very important. God did not and cannot create evil. God is not in favor of corruption. He doesn’t like animosity or war or cancer. That is the way things have become, but it is not the way things were created.
My life can glorify God. Creation’s loud speech, that wordless praise, is the song my life is meant to sing. I know how far from the glory of God I fall short. I know how entangled and entrapped my life can become. I know how off-key is the song of my life. But somehow it is possible for my life to offer one more speech directed to the great and the good. To join in the chorus with the stars. Nothing that exists was made evil. If God is great and God is good, then it is impossible for him to create sin or wickedness. He did not and does not create the malevolent or the immoral. Somehow things got spoiled. Things that were whole got cracked and fell to pieces. God began the creation with “let there be light,” and the darkness was filled, but in the history of the world the light keeps getting turned off, and the shadows take over--but only for a while.

“Holiness” means distinctiveness or separateness. Over a thousand times in the Old Testament someone or something is called “holy.” Usually it is God, who is utterly distinct—not in the sense of being removed, uninvolved, or indifferent—but in the sense of being pure. Other times the word is used of teaching devices in the Old Testament to drive home the point that amid the commonness of this world’s pollution, some things can be different. A holy priesthood, holy rites, even holy (consecrated) temple, altar, and temple furnishings.
To seek purification is to seek differentness. Things can be better than they are. Human beings can be better than they typically are. We can do better than the vulgar (a word whose root means “common”). Your experience in life can be higher and better than living like a breathing/eating/working machine with soft parts.


 -------- Mel Lawrenz, PHD, BibleGateway.com