Worship The Creator Not The Creation

hands-globe2_2pb6Today is Earth Day and my first inclination is to mock nature worshippers, because some are indeed worthy of mockery. However, the Holy Spirit reminded me this morning that they are only doing what they’ve been wired to do…what we’ve all been wired to do…worship. It is the object of our worship that matters most to God.

We can look to the Old Testament for numerous examples of God’s people worshipping the created instead of the Creator. In remembrance of God’s forgiveness for their ancestors’ sins, the Psalmist wrote:

    “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image. Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea.” (Psalm 106:19-22)

We all go astray and worship idols, some manmade, some made by nature. And before we are too hard on nature worshippers, we should always remember that nature indeed reflects God’s glory.

    “The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God.” (Isaiah 35:1-2)

The above passage is Isaiah writing of the future glory of Zion, nevertheless we can see the glory of God everywhere in nature. It is nature itself that testifies of God the Creator.

    “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)

While teaching us a lesson on worry, Jesus pointed us to creation to see how involved He is in not only nature, but also mankind:

    “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:25-30)

The greatest creation of God is man, of whom God knew of before we were born or even conceived. Mankind is God’s greatest achievement in creation:

    “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)

On this Earth Day wouldn’t it be wonderful if those who worship the creation were introduced to Christ the Creator. We could share this verse with them:

    “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:3)

Imagine introducing someone we would normally mock to the One Who not only was most mocked by men, but also and more importantly created all they worship:

    “… yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (1 Corinthians 8:6)

Has it been awhile since you last witnessed to someone?

Why not make an effort to share with a nature-worshipper the Nature-Maker?

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

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