The world is NOT a mass of randomly evolving atoms. God created all that is for a purpose!
Read / Listen
Read Colossians 1:15-20
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 26
Q. What do you believe when you say,
“I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth”?
A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who out of nothing created heaven and earth
and everything in them,
who still upholds and rules them
by his eternal counsel and providence,
is my God and Father because of Christ his Son.
I trust him so much that I do not doubt
he will provide
whatever I need
for body and soul,
and he will turn to my good
whatever adversity he sends me
in this sad world.
He is able to do this because he is almighty God;
he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.
Summary
Most people know the opening words of the Bible: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Last week we were reminded that God exists in a Trinity - He's one in essence and three in person - so it makes sense that God created the universe in a triune manner.
Often when the Bible refers to God, we understand it to mean God the Father. So when we read in Genesis one "And God said, let there be...," we properly conclude that creation is primarily the actions and design of God the Father.
But as He inspired the Apostle Paul to write the letter to the Colossians, the Holy Spirit pulls the curtain back, so to speak, and we get a fuller sense of the creation process. Here we learn that God created all things in and through His Son. As the Father powerfully called things into being that were not (Rom. 4:17), the Son was right there, transforming those words into the physical reality that continues to astound us today. What a thought!
The partnership between Father & Son didn't end upon the completion of creation. In this coming week we're going to be reminded that God sovereignly and providentially controls all that happens. But just like in the work of creation, the Father doesn't work alone, rather it is "in the Son that all things hold together (v17)."
Dig Deeper
Sometimes things just sound better in Latin, so we stick with the old language. Such is the case with the important phrase that God created all things out of nothing. It just sounds way more elegant to say that God created all things ex Nihilo (besides the beauty of it, this is good phrase to know as you'll encounter it often as you read & learn more about creation).
But the creation narrative in Genesis doesn't exactly describe an ex nihilo creation; we read of the earth being formless and empty, and the Spirit hovering over the waters. Does this mean God made the world out of pre-existing stuff?
Not at all. That's just where the story in Genesis picks up.
We know this because of several passages in the Bible like Colossians 1:16. God the Father, through His Son, created all things, in heaven and on earth, both visible and invisible.
As you go about your work today, know that you and everything you see, and even more that you can't see, was created by your Father, both through and for your Savior.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the invisible God, who spoke the world into being ex nihilo;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will live as you've been designed to live: for God's glory!
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 25
