This is the text of the article I linked to in the previous post. If you don’t want to read it in the context of the rest of the Nickel Belt News, then here you go:
In case you were unaware, we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world–the wildlife, the countless rivers and lakes, the beautiful sunsets that pour out every colour imaginable across the sky and seem to go on for hours, and, especially, the vastness of it all. I grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina until I went to live in my wife’s hometown in the heart of the mountains in North Carolina. Not much can beat the bright greens that overwhelm the springtime and the deep orange, yellow, and red that fill the autumn with colour down there. I always thought that there was no place nearly as beautiful as home. Then I moved here.
Last week my wife and I went to Banff, Alberta. We had never seen the Rocky Mountains before. The majesty and sheer size of the mountains is quite a sight to behold. When I came back home and saw the sunset over Thompson, I was reminded that God’s creation here is just as majestic and beautiful. This is truly a beautiful place we live in. But I’m sure many of you are thinking of places that you’ve been that are just as beautiful as here. This is truly a beautiful world we live in.
When we look at this world and the complexity and beauty therein, from the smallest single-cell organism to the tallest mountain, how can we not understand that this world was created by a force vastly more powerful than anything we can see? And if that force were able to create intelligent, emotional, creative beings, then wouldn’t he be intelligent, emotional and creative himself? More than that, why would this creator leave his creatures alone in the dark, simply guessing why we are here? Maybe this creator has revealed himself to us.
The Apostle Paul pointed out that he has, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” So when we look at the world, we are to see God’s power. But is that all we are to know about God, that he is powerful? The author of Hebrews thinks not, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” God has revealed his power and might through his creation, but he has revealed his love and mercy and grace by his Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus was more than simply a good teacher, he was the incarnation of the living God. In simpler terms, Jesus was God with skin on. In Jesus we see the eternal, all-powerful God. In Jesus we know God’s love for us. In Jesus we have access to God’s grace. Do you want to be spiritual? Do you want to know God? Know Jesus.
Brandon Milan is the Associate Pastor of Youth at Thompson First Baptist Church.
i'm still thinkin 