By: Jim Umlauf
I’m at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis for a class on missions. Many excellent things have been discussed thus far, but a quote stood out that I wanted to share:
“The idea that creation has a moral quality to it is an astounding and important part of the (creation, thus gospel) story. It points to a gardener who has the soil under his fingernails.”
God created a world that was good. Sin, then, is a distortion of the good. A formerly whole, beautiful, obedient creation depicts evil for what it is—parasitic. Evil is not an equal or opposite opponent of good. It’s a distortion, a twisting, a violation, a hijacking of the good.
A lot of ministry efforts are crippled because they start with the fall. The Bible doesn’t do that. When we consider the gospel, we naturally think about sin, after all, hurt is all around us, and the effects of it are plain to see. Further, Jesus came to deal with the consequences of sin in both lives and creation. But to grasp God’s ultimate plan in the theatre of redemption, we really need to back up all the way to the start.
One day, in the fullness of time, King Jesus will return. When he does, evil will be put away forever, and creation will be restored to its originally intended design. Until then, let’s live in joyful, confident, hopeful, vocal anticipation of that day.
