How mysterious is it?
Ever wonder if God is really there? If He's there, shouldn't He make
Himself more obvious, more visible to us all?
On the other hand, maybe God is very evident, after all. Maybe we simply
aren't paying much attention. Maybe it's simply a matter of our own focus.
For human beings, the universe and life and death, etc., poses a lot more
mystery than answers. That's because by nature we're separated from God,
too preoccupied with our own self-focus to pay much attention to God - or to
any other aspect of reality that isn't immediately self-gratifying.
God is not silent or hiding Himself. He reveals His true nature and His
expectations for us in all that surrounds us. And He speaks to humanity by
various natural and supernatural means.
So why can't we see God clearly?
Human history shows that regardless of what God ever reveals, says, or does,
we tend to do the same thing: we rebel, ignore the evidence and pretend to
be even more stupid than we really are. We claim ignorance and blindness
even when we actually know and see very well. So instead of maturing in
wisdom as we get older, we too often become more deliberately ignorant of
reality, more blind to life's lessons with every year of our earthly
existence.
With our human nature so bent by the natural tendency to "self-focus" (that
is, by sin) it's no wonder that many people keep asking, "Is there really
any evidence for God?"
The answer is simple and obvious: "Yes, there is a God, and no, He does not
exist simply to grant us wishes." But our desire for self-gratification is
too often greater than our sincere desire for truth.
But what if we really do want the truth? What if we are sincere in our
search for the answer? One way that we can help ourselves find answers is
to give a little thought to the obvious.
For example, most folks would agree that the universe does exist. So how
did it get here? The universe was not created by chance or by time itself
or by statistics or by human reasoning. Yet people talk as though any or
all of these concepts can actually design, create or modify things.
Let's back away and look at the most obvious fact in the world. Common sense
tells us that without a cause or creator, nothing anywhere would exist.
Without a creator, we would not be here to wonder about existence or life or
meaning. There would be no planets, no molecules, or atoms, or anything
else either smaller or larger.
After centuries of human observation and research we still don't begin to
know much about the physical universe, or even where our universe might be
in relation to all the rest of infinity. We don't know if the physical
universe fills all of infinity. We wonder if other physical life exists out
there among the stars. We still debate as to whether or not other levels of
existence and forms of matter still undetectable to our minds and senses
might be out there. We still don't know a lot of things.
But we do know that we're here. And lots of other things are also here all
around us. Things that we call grass and clouds and mountains and seas,
planets and stars and galaxies do exist. And collectively, we call all of
this the universe. So we should also know that it got here somehow.
Logic says that things do not create themselves.
Has a chair or a toaster ever designed and created itself in your house?
How about a bicycle or a motor vehicle in your garage? Has a house or
garage ever built itself on your property?
Relatively speaking, toasters, houses and chairs are pretty simple in design
and concept. Especially if one compares them with the universe out there -
with a tree, a living flower or a small bird. See how wonderfully diverse
and complex everything is. Even an atom is more complex than we once
thought.
So it should be clear that infinite "nothing" does not simply evolve into a
universe of well designed and complex, functioning and beautiful
"somethings" --all by itself. To believe that it could would take a whole
lot more imagination and faith than I have.
Without a designer, no predictable design/pattern (even the predictable
design of so-called chaos) would exist in this universe. We've learned that
much. And we can see that such patterns and designs is here on every level.
While we may not begin to comprehend everything involved in those designs
and patterns we depend on them, expect them, and utilize them every day.
For example, we build with wood, make concrete, shape plastics, burn coal,
eat foods, drive cars and fly planes. All these things rely on many
predictable properties and dependable physical laws. We expect wood to have
certain anticipated characteristics, we expect concrete to pour, cure and
hold its shape, we depend on various plastics for specific jobs, we trust
that coal will always produce heat, we trust foods to give us nutrition and
energy, we rely on the many predictable functions built into an automobile,
we expect aircraft to ride on air. We expect the universe to do certain
things according to the properties and patterns we have observed so far.
God is the ultimate "cause," the "mind," the "designer and maker," the power
behind everything in the universe. And the Bible says that I should go
further and accept that God consciously made all things and keeps all things
together by His own will, His own expression or word.
I understand these things by faith. I accept them because I believe the
record God has given us in the Bible. But I am not relying on "faith" any
more than the person who insists that there is no God. It is simply a
matter of focus. I believe what God says and the unbeliever rejects what
God says. Yet the unbeliever, who rejects the purpose and design built into
the universe, must still have faith that the universe will continue to
function in a predictable and useful way today and tomorrow. There is no
reason for a universe to work if it just happened, without a design or
creator. But the unbeliever hopes it will and operates on the faith that it
will.
So far, the universe still works.
The Bible makes it clear that God expects to use common sense to grasp the
obvious. He also expects us to listen to His voice that even now is
speaking to our hearts - and has been speaking to our hearts since we were
first conceived. That voice calls all human beings on this planet to know
God, to honor Him, to respond to Him just as any child might respond to his
mother or father, or even as we might expect a computer program that we had
written to respond to our keystrokes and commands.
The truth about God has been most perfectly revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
To better understand what God says about the Lord Jesus Christ, I encourage
you to read the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.
After that you will want to read more of the Bible. You may want to read
the entire New Testament first, and then the Psalms in the Old Testament,
and then all the rest.
If you have never fully responded to God, you can do so right now, right
where you are. Accept the free gift of Jesus Christ within your own heart.
Agree with God that Jesus Christ is the one and only hope for salvation, for
forgiveness of sin, and for eternal life.
Jim
www.goodwordusa.org
www.jimsdesk.com
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