Lord, I look upon the many miracles of life around me and marvel at Your handiwork. You have taken Your mighty hand and created marvelous natural sights for mankind to behold.
Our unique, individual lives are enough to take away our breath, yet You miraculously sustain it for a lifespan. The joy of creation surrounds us and I must glory in Your goodness and Your mercy forever.
Those are just a few words of praise God bestowed to this messenger to share with his audience. Please ponder what follows.
Let’s look deeper into the joy of creation. Can’t you sense His creation in everything we experience? God’s general revelation of His presence is all around us, if we only slow down a bit and sense its reality.
Consider His creation in giving us the ability to be creative as well. We can go back to the Renaissance period and relish the beauty created by so many artists, sculptors and composers. We can also reflect on our present age of inventions and technological advancements that improve the quality of our lives.
The seed of creation starts with God passing on ideas and concepts that subtly grow into something beautiful and intrinsically valuable to our eyes and ears. Oftentimes the creation becomes something exceptionally meaningful to behold that can make a significant difference in the future.
If we’re honest, we’ll give credit to the Lord for whatever is produced rather than taking credit ourselves. You see, we are nothing without His very presence in our individual lives.
So tell me: How and where does all this creativity truly commence? I propose that all we have and all that evolves comes from our Creator, the God of the universe.
If we travel back to Genesis in God’s Word we can’t help but see His immense and awesome creativity proclaimed in the first two chapters as He sets our world in place. All we need do is look around us to marvel at all He’s created. He’s revealed His glorious work for all to see and experience.
There’s much in this world that brings both joy and sadness. Let’s turn to Ecclesiastes 3 and listen to what the preacher, King Solomon, has to say on the meaning of life. In verse 4, we read there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
Then in verse 11 he continues, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
There’s great truth found in these words and we’d be wise to come to grips with the idea that we’ve been created for His purpose and we need to take great joy in being an integral part of His creation.
As King Solomon declares, we need to have an eternal perspective to fully appreciate the life God has ordained each of us to live. Knowing our earthly existence will be quite short, it’s good to grasp that we are created for His purpose and can decide to live with Him forever.
And since life is “like a mist and appears for a little while and then vanishes,” we need to realize that most of our existence will not be here on earth!
That’s not saying our earthly existence is insignificant, but we must comprehend that God has set our lives in motion for His distinct and meaningful purpose. We need to take our life seriously and solemnly.
Knowing that we’ve been created in His image for His purpose with the ability to create as well, we must learn to appreciate and apply ourselves to every aspect of our lives. This gift endearingly known as eternal life needs to be cherished and utilized to its fullness.
And as we near the end of our time here on earth, I trust you will intently reflect on this wonderful gift and choose joy as we press on toward eternity.
It’s extremely important to come to that place in your life journey where you make the decision to follow Christ and accept His work for you on the cross. After all, Christ Jesus is God’s greatest gift, sent into this world to become a man as a final and complete sin offering for all mankind.
All we must do is realize our sinful lives, admit our need for a Savior and accept the eternal gift of salvation.
Passages to Ponder
— Jim Langley has been writing for more than 30 years while working as a life and health insurance agent in Santa Barbara. In recent years, his passion has turned to writing about his personal relationship with God, and his goal is to encourage others to draw near to Him as well. As a longtime member of CBMC of Santa Barbara (Christian Business Men’s Connection), he started writing Fourth Quarter Strategies columns in 2014, and he now reaches an international audience through the CBMC International devotional Monday Manna. He can be contacted at jim@fourthquarterstrategies.com for more information. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.