July 22, 2024

As the sermon last Sunday was about praying for finances, it can be easy to fall into misguided thinking that God desires all Christians to live a life of asceticism (i.e. a life void of earthly pleasures).  This just is not accurate.  God enjoys His creation and desires that we do so as well!  Consider Psalm 104:31:  May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works.

1 Timothy 4:4 says, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving..."   All of creation is for our enjoyment.  Consider why God carefully unfolded creation in that first six days bringing mankind in as the final piece.  Each day a "good" part of creation was made, but only after mankind was placed into it and given reign over all of creation was it called "very good."   It would seem our enjoyment of creation is one aspect that makes it so good.  

Jesus taught of this in the Sermon on the Mount.  Perhaps you've never made the connection in quite this way.  Six times He tells us "you've heard it said..." (vv. 21, 27, 31, 33, 38, and 43).  This is followed by an explanation of what God is really after ("but I say to you...") in verses 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, and 44.  He's explaining that theJews believed it was all about what they did or didn't do.  But that was never what God was really after.  God was more concerned with their hearts.  
 
The danger is not in our enjoying the beauty that is in creation (which might include things like a beautiful sunset, a great meal, or a car that is fun to drive).  The danger is when we seek our ultimate fulfillment in those things.  Every time we enjoy creation, it is just a mere taste of our ultimate enjoyment that comes from the Lord.  We see the beauty of a sunset and that should cause us to consider God's glory and beauty - Oh, thank you God and praise to you!   We taste that amazing new dish at a restaurant and that should cause us to want to taste and see that the Lord is good - Oh, thank you God and praise to you!  We press down on the gas pedal of that new sports car  and get a thrill at the sound and power of the engine and that should cause us to be thrilled with God, knowing He has built us for the adventure of life and He is the all-powerful Creator - Oh, thank you God and praise to you!

Our enjoyment of creation is okay as long as we realize where the true satisfaction is to come from.   We can enjoy the pleasure of life as long as we are not seeking pleasure for pleasure's sake.  The pleasure is a means of tapping into our greatest pleasure found only in God.  Through this, we also more and more seek to help people find out how great our God is, much like we might tell folks about a great new restaurant.  We want them to experience how amazing God really is.  Let us rejoice in the God of Creation as we enjoy all that He has provided. 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice!  (Phil. 4:4).    

Creation Days volunteers will be needed for food, setup, cleanup, security, parking lot help, and the Creation Days Kids  Klub.   HERE IS A LINK for you to sign up and help out.   This will be for Saturday, August 10th.    

You may also register to attend the conference on our website.  Click on the "Register Now" button through these two spots below:  
Sign up for middle school through adults is here....  ADULT REGISTRATION
Sign up for children (newborn through 5th grade) is here....  CHILD REGISTRATION