What In The World Am I Doing Here?

Do you ever wonder why there are flowers growing where no one sees them, animals at play with no one to watch, creatures undiscovered in the depths of the ocean, not to mention the galaxies far beyond satellite eyes? Why is there beauty in so many unseen places?

In The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God, John Piper contemplates why a God, who is complete and happy in Himself, would create all these things, seen and unseen.

From Psalm 104 (and other Scripture passages), Piper points to five reasons for creation.

1. Creation is an expression of God's glory (Ps 104:31). The world around us gives us a glimpse of the workmanship of our Creator. If what is produced is just a thought in the mind of God, how great must be our God. This flower is just a glimpse at the magnificence of the One who designed it.

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. (Ps 19:1-2)

2. Creation praises God. The skipping fawn, the rain falling in a barren desert all praise their Creator by being exactly what He designed them to be and doing what He planned for them to do. Seen or unseen.

3. Creation reveals God's incomparable wisdom. Piper shares:

Did you know that there are ten thousand known species of diatoms? In a teaspoon of ordinary lake water there may be a million of these tiny invisible plants. And what are they doing while entertaining God with their microscopic beauty?...What are they doing? They are making tons and tons of oxygen so that the animals in the water can breathe! The world is full of the wisdom of God.

4. Creation reveals His incomparable power. The stars, galaxies, and universes beyond our own are enough of a glimpse at the power of One great enough to create and sustain such brilliant blazes of fire and space.

5. Creation points beyond itself to God. All the details, all the beauty, all the intricate designs and purposes point to an Artist. How vastly complex our world is! If so, how much more incomprehensible must be the mind of Him who spoke it into existence!

What does this mean for us?

What about those moments of laughter, those dark nights of tears, those kind acts unnoticed? You have a more attentive audience than all of creation!

See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:28b-33)

Today, finding our purpose or destiny is all the buzz. We have forgotten the simple farmer of the past who glorified God while plowing his fields or the mother whose tender lullabies and love for her family, flowing from her love for God, brought pleasure to Him.

We want a big show, big applause, big congregations, big publicity. Maybe God wants you to be small. Maybe God wants me to have an obscure life. Maybe what pleases Him best is getting us quietly away from success in order that we may delight in His presence.

God loves us so much that He asks us today to be faithful in the small things.

God loves us so much that He keeps us from that which would take our hearts away from Him, the only Satisfier of all our longings.

What an amazing Father!

How Important Are We Really?

It's hard to get a right perspective on ourselves, is it not?

I have lived for over 35 years yet still find myself yielding to the whims of selfishness. My spirits sag when I'm neglected and soar when I am praised. It's natural, I believe, but dangerous.

My desire to be comfortable, both physically and in myself, become the driving force in what I do and how I perceive life. So I find it necessary to stop and consider—how important am I really?

Long before science could analyze us to the smallest molecule, God's Word described how unique each individual is.

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. ~Psalm 139:13-14

You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. ~Job 10:11

And what unique gifts God has given us to do specific tasks on this earth.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. ~Ephesians 2:10

Jesus described how intimately God cares for us.

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. ~Luke 12:6-7

He not only knew us before we were born, but chose to save us before the world was created and mapped out the days we would live.

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. ~Psalm 139:16

For [God] chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. ~Ephesians 1:3-4

But we should know that it was nothing we did, not who we are, that made God determine to save us.

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8

It isn't just that we didn't deserve God's love in the passive sense; we were actually antagonistic, in rebellion, against God in our spirits and actions.

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! ~Romans 5:10

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. ~Isaiah 64:6

 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. ~Romans 3:23

So why am I recounting what is so elementary to the faith? If you haven't tuned me out, here is why.

I frequently follow a blogger named Carl Trueman on the Reformation 21 site. Trueman lives in the States but is from England. I enjoy his humour, even at our expense, and, though I don't always agree word for word, he challenges my thinking.

This past week Trueman published a post called An Unmessianic Sense of Non-Destiny. In it, he discusses the changes to his outlook on life in reaching middle age. He said he has come to realize how dispensable he is in his personal and professional life and in his spiritual influence. He acknowledges what I emphasized above, but focuses on correcting our distorted sense of self-worth.

Trueman claims that we have focused so completely on our destinies as individuals that we have a type of messiah-complex. Our own life purpose has become such a priority that we "trump all else." And I think in a sense he is right.

He writes:

Put bluntly, when I read the Bible it seems to me that the church is the meaning of human history; but it is the church, a corporate body, not the distinct individuals who go to make up her membership. Of course, all of us individuals have our gifts and our roles to play: the Lord calls us each by name and numbers the very hairs of our heads; but, to borrow Paul's analogy of the body [Romans 12:4-5], we have no special destiny in ourselves taken as isolated units, any more than bits of our own bodies do in isolation from each other. When I act, I act as a whole person; my hand has no special role of its own; it acts only in the context of being part of my overall body. With the church, the destiny of the whole is greater than the sum of the destinies of individual Christians.

To clarify, I would add that it is the churches focus on Christ and energy in seeking Him that matters, not the church as an organization or even as a universal body. But I take Trueman's point: we get so caught up in our own tastes, opinions, desires, gifts, goals...pride, that we live as if the "arm" was the whole body; as if our small service was the salvation of the world.

Trueman goes on—

This is an important insight which should profoundly shape our thinking and, indeed, our praying. My special destiny as a believer is to be part of the church; and it is the church that is the big player in God's wider plan, not me. That puts me, my uniqueness, my importance, my role, in definite perspective. The problem today is that too many have the idea that God's primary plan is for them, and the church is secondary, the instrument to the realization of their individual significance. They may not even realize they think that way but, like those involuntary `tells' at a poker game, so certain unconscious spiritual behaviours give the game away.

He points out how this attitude affects our prayers and our church commitments. If it's all about me, then I can pull out of membership (or not join) because getting my personal strokes is more important than supporting those in a local body.

God chose us, uniquely designed us, reached down and saved us (despite our warped, ugly souls), and gave us gifts. These gifts and our salvation are to be offered up to Him as offerings of love.

He is the Head of the Body; we are merely members. Though we are loved, we must keep in perspective that life is not about "me."

We live for Him. We love others for Him. And someday, our complete and utter satisfaction will be realized when we live with Him.