I never cease to be amazed at the things many people put at the top of their “priority list”, for some of those things seem to be quite insignificant. We are living in a strange, actually a dangerous, day for many people have seemingly discarded the Bible, while making sure they keep up with world events and the speeches of “important people”. No, it is not wrong to listen to the speeches of others, for I, as a pastor, certainly desire to be heard. The problem, however, is when we get the wrong things at the top of the priority list, and I happen to think that most people have left the Scriptures off their priority lists, or perhaps very near the bottom of them. My position is not to seek to correct the actions of others through any supposed power I could have to do so, rather it is to challenge humanity to rethink their purpose for being alive on planet earth, and to turn again to the Bible for answers to the hardest questions. Yes, I am thankful for the good things that men do to help others, and for the books that we use to learn important facts. My concern, however, is the place of priority that some people give to books and words that contain falsehoods.
With this said, I want us to think about Genesis 1:1, which says, “In the beginning God….. Before we get to the creation, we need to think about Who is behind the creation. In fact, when we say, “In the beginning”, we are not thinking about God Himself, for He has no beginning or end, rather we are thinking about the beginning of God’s creation of the heavens and earth, for that is what we see in the rest of Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Yes, I am familiar with the Hypothesis of evolution, but I do not buy it. Oh, someone will say, “You mean the theory of evolution”. I would say, “No, I mean the hypothesis of evolution, for it has never been proven far enough to be a “theory”. Certainly every person is to be allowed to think on his own, but it is also dangerous to think the wrong things, thus some need to be alerted that there just might be something, or Someone, more important than the men who have hatched out their own “truths”, so to speak.
Someone may want to say, “Oh, nobody has ever seen God, nor has anyone proven His existence.” If one is thinking about “test tube” proof, I can agree, but if one is thinking about a “first cause”, then God is certainly the only One Who can fit that bill! Matter cannot be the first cause, for it did not create itself, nor is it eternal, so God must be the eternal One. No, I do not claim to understand much about God’s eternal existence, but I certainly do believe it. After all, some intelligent being has to be behind the creation of a universe that runs in precision, and evolution is not a candidate! Why would anyone seek to “rule out God” from His universe? Perhaps it could be because humanity is not too fond of having a “Boss”, which is a cheap word, actually, for the Lordship of our God over His creation. So, my thinking is that God has forever existed, as the Bible clearly teaches, and man, having been made in the image of God originally, in Adam and Eve, has a high priority on God’s list of priorities. Thus, to understand that God had something good in mind when He created mankind, and He is doing all that is necessary to assure that all people who desire may live with Him forever in a new creation of the heavens and earth, and that we may do it with joy, peace and fellowship with God and others who have received Jesus for salvation. Yes, this may seem simplistic to some scientists, doctors, lawyers or other people in high positions, but the simplicity of it is what makes it beautiful, for all we have to do to be assured that we will live forever in a perfect place is to put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the One Who died for our sins and arose again the third day. Yet, there is much we can, and should, do in serving God, but we do not serve to “pay for our salvation”, rather we serve out of gratitude for having been forgiven by our Lord and Master!
By J. Briggs King, Rainsville, AL (678) 451-0921