I don't believe that God created a world full of chaos, destruction and also emptiness.
Why?
Hmmm... I guess that whenever I go and stand staring out at/soaking up/just being in His created spaces- whether a beach, desert, bay, field, edge of a lake, watching waves or riding them, cruising up in a plane through the clouds etc- I don't see or feel chaos. I see and feel total peace. Is it just me?
Thinking of sunsets - Staring out at the sun setting as and where it always does, with the air cooling down, the birds floating across the skies, stars emerging to light the night and our imaginations... so peaceful yet powerful.
When I stand in creation my heart is light and soul is full and mind is still and body is calm.
It is not until a man steps into the world or even back into listening to ourselves and seeing our own selves and actions that things shift. Chaos, destruction and also emptiness somehow at the same time - are present in our hearts and so our surroundings.
Is it God that made this world so messy?
I have a feeling that it might be us as the peeps God crafted and created that have made this mess that seems to flourish by the decade. Ouch.
Though I don't want to admit it may be partly my bad and that I am a contributor to such a crappy-at-times reality of the world... I kinda know in my heart it is true.
The heart of man is damaged by legitimate needs and wants met by ultimately mess-causing means.
2 WAYS OF MEETING OUR LEGIT NEEDS & WANTS:
Option A). When we look to God for those needs and wants to be met, HE meets them according to the riches of HIS grace*
*Grace is undeserved unconditional treatment and work by God... God gives in total grace, which is hard to accept but awesome! Grace is open to whoever trusts in his son Jesus and chooses to follow Him through the big God-sized life laid ahead.
Option B) When not accepting God's grace WE have to meet these needs according to the riches of OUR: bank account, physical abilities, mental and emotional abilities, experiences, friends circle, fridge contents, possessions, skills, energy etc... Is that an issue though? We can get all those things after all, can't we?
The issue with OUR earned riches is that all those things run out, are earned and have to be endlessly up-kept.
They weigh us down and often aren't meeting the needs/wants even after all of the effort invested. Darn it! What is the point of it all then?
It's because it keeps us independent (we hope).
But when we step back, we see it really leaves us dependent on a lot!
All of those 'riches' of our own we need to get/earn/give/upkeep/update constantly to meet needs and wants we have.
The 'maintenance list' for upkeep of our riches goes on way too long - Who could be bothered?
Yet we let ourselves get picked up into the whirlpool of getting our own riches sorted and stored up.
Don't get me wrong; whirlpools are exciting and give a solid adrenaline rush!
I loved making whirlpools during swimming sessions back at Durie Hill School... but they were only fun for a while and then we either got tired or sick of getting controlled by the current of the whirlpool. You had to get out of it to just chill in the still waters again.
Rather than CHOOSING to follow God we end up being a slave to loads of things which we are FORCED to pursue to maintain things.
We cause chaos, destruction and emptiness to be something we are vulnerable to in the struggle of 'life' and 'living the dream'.
God gives us abundance from a place of choice followed by His grace + guidance while sin/the heart of man gets us 'enough' via being slaves to endless work + relying on our own plans.
Crap. I see myself in this right now as I write... I have been offered, accepted into and gifted grace from God and lived in that awesomeness - full of action, rest, brightness and hope - yet my heart with sin starts grabbing at stuff from my own strength, resources, abilities.
I start seeing if I can leave God behind and roll solo. I might roll over the top of others, their needs and dreams etc as I go and get worn out but hey look at my riches building all from myself! Aren't I awesome!?
How about nope, haha.
When I do something even when I know it will leave someone else worse off - I am watering the world with pain. God's world winces.
... When I take or don't give when I know I should, buy slave-made clothing or stuff, steal, text and drive, fake, drop rubbish, say something harsh, fake, lust, hurt myself, hate, don't love, wipe my conscience, take advantage of someone or environment ... they are all things I can make justifications for. But are things that my heart tells me- Nope, not good dude, don't go there.
Piece by piece of my brokenness and selfish ambitions I put my lil pieces of chaos, destruction and emptiness into this special beautiful world of ours and into the mini worlds of the fellow peeps in it.
God's world is messy?
Without us striving hard, the world is just chilling- the sunset happens faithfully and beautifully, the flowers blossom, the birds sing and the rivers flow- but without us God's world is incomplete.
God doesn't want the world without us- even though we make mess.
He CREATED US in the image of Himself- a creative, loving, caring, strong, relationship-driven creator and He created us with the purpose to tend to this world. To tend His plants, His mountains, seas and skies, His creatures and His favourite of all: His people.
He doesn't need us to give Him peace- He wants us to have life and that is what makes Him smile most.
God's world is messy when our relationships are messy, because real love is what brings peace and that comes through the riches of His grace when we believe in, trust in and then live with Jesus.
Yeap, Jesus Christ as in the man that the most looked-forward-to day of the year is a birthday for: Christmas- because it promises an awesome day of life with glimpses of peace.
We can trust in God for our riches- tending the world alongside the ultimate gardener and adventurer and artist- looking at His world He seems pretty creative and cool.
Then again ... we could get the riches ourselves then we wouldn't need to trust in God?
Wait, have I been here before?!
