Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I Might As Well Have Been Blind

Our Young Adult group at St. Andrews is studying the book Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. It's always been one of those books I assumed I would eventually read because churches and bookstores always have it out where everyone can see it. The title itself is intriguing. I have to say, though, I'm a little surprised at what first hit me as I began reading.

In the very first chapter, Piper recalls some of the influences that came into his life during his college years. One of them (no surprise here) was C.S. Lewis. He mentions that, after reading his first Lewis book, Mere Christianity, that he was hooked for life. Lewis's writings were a breath of fresh air for Piper amidst the "existentialism" that reigned in the day (basically, instead of a Creator giving us meaning, we create our own purpose and essence - sounds alot like postmodernism, doesn't it?). Existentialism suggested that there was no God "out there," but that any evidence of God or gods was to be found in us. We create who we want to become.

However, C.S. Lewis, observant and imaginative as he was, helped Piper (and now me) see that creation is evidence enough for the existence of a God who is "out there." In the quote below , Piper writes of how Lewis opened his eyes to "objective reality":

"He [Lewis] demonstrated for me and convinced me that rigorous, precise, penetrating logic is not opposed to deep, soul-stirring feeling and vivd, lively - even playful - imagination."

What I took away from it is this: I spend alot of my time thinking about what I have to do next. I'm task-driven, and on the positive side of things, it helps me get things done. The downside is that I have spent most of my life missing the "objective reality" in front of me. How often do I stop and think, "Wow! Look at all these trees! Look how they make shade from the sun! How did they get there?", or "Look at the ocean! There's no way that man could've filled the earth with that much water, let alone the fish that dwell within it!", or even more, "Look at the clouds, the stars in the sky! Who put those there? How do they hold their place?" Part of not wasting my life is looking around and noticing the evidences of the Creator. I might as well have been blind all these years, because I have grown used to these things. I take them for granted, when God put them here to point to Himself.

I live in sunny South Florida. I even ride my bike to and from the church each day. If I stop my racing mind for one minute and just look around, I'm amazed at how everything I see, no matter how technologically advanced or new they appear, all came from God. Is there anything in this world that God did not create? What hospital or office building came into being without the natural elements that God put into the earth? What architect received his knowledge of angles and mathematics without Someone first setting the boundaries of absolutes? How can these construction men in the orange vests mix and pour concrete without Someone first filling the earth with rocks and sand? These things may be obvious, logical things, but as Piper said above:

"He [Lewis] demonstrated for me and convinced me that rigorous, precise, penetrating logic is not opposed to deep, soul-stirring feeling and vivd, lively - even playful - imagination."

The obvious can awaken worship if we stop and notice it.

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