Thinking on Good Things

When I was younger I didn't have much access to TVs and computers, so I would look through magazines and catalogs in hopes of finding beautiful pieces of pictures to cut out and save to one day create a collage. I never really made one, but I did end taping and gluing interesting things to my high school planner and just keeping some interesting pieces in a folder.

This reminds me of Philippians 4:8: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

I had aimed to keep what was beautiful, and this verse asks us to keep what is beautiful in our minds. Truly beautiful things. Not necessarily what our culture thinks is beautiful. But true beauty, as defined by God. As God is, and shown in his work in Creation.

When we go through life, we can try to save in our minds the beautiful things we see. The sun is setting just when we happen to be out, and there's an interesting shade of pink and blue forming. The uniqueness of a person we know well that makes us smile.

We can store these up each day like I was going through a magazine clipping out all the nice colors and pictures. We may not remember them as long as papers last in folders, but it is as easy as that. People often feel like it is hard to think of good things, but it's just keeping in mind to look for those things, and taking a moment to reflect on each one as they're noticed.

After we notice beautiful things, the next step can be to thank God for them, or think of how God has blessed us, or even really nothing. Quietly enjoy that time.

I want to also say that sadness is a part of life due to the Fall. So we can't pressure ourselves too much to reflect on the beautiful always. God calls us to other things as well, like truth and honesty (which are beautiful, but sometimes reveal the ugliness of our condition). We really have to be honest about our condition—the falliness of it and the world around us--to truly see our hope in Christ and also the sheer beauty in even the smallest things. A Fallen world that still has beauty in it, thanks to God. That is more than we deserve (the wages of sin is death - Romans 6:23). So we praise God for his helping us weak creatures.

The Everyday

Do people often overlook the simple beauty in everyday? Absolutely.

Many times every moment becomes a moment to think about the next vacation that is in a far away location, or some way to convince another person we are truly somehow exciting or different than others. When that happens, all focus or attention is lost to the beauty in simple things that is sitting there.

It's time though to accept, appreciate, and really invest in the blessings that we already have. People love to make everyday life seem dull and trivial--by calling it mundane or ordinary or assuming every day taken off of work should be to a far away location. It's also a good time to watch our words in this area and realize why complaining is detrimental.

It takes a little bit of work to love the details of simple days. If you take a walk, you can just enjoy the sun or the color or the reflection of light. It's amazing to think about how all of it works and is beyond what humans can create. A nice, caring touch of our creator.

Cooking, one of the most routine tasks, can be a time of interesting reflection. So much variations in color and texture and taste. God could have created it all to be one color, but we have so much to look at and try.

Worship, or being grateful to and thinking of God, can happen there, in the everyday. Taking time to notice the little things that make life a little easier and praising God for them.

All Good Things from God

Recently I read an article mentioning that all good things come from God (James 1:17). What a beautiful reality.

If we truly start to think often on this, that all good things flow from God, we'd have countless opportunities to thank God. The sun shining and the way the cool wind feels on a hot day can be a cause for quiet awe and reflection.

Or even on a winter day full of snow and cold, the type where people like to complain about the cold, there's a chance to see the beauty of snow or feel the heat inside.

There are hundreds of possible things to be grateful for each day. That doesn't mean that life isn't sad at times, but that gifts are always around us. A beautiful sign from God of his blessings to us. Big and small.

The Purpose of Art

A friend once questioned why anyone should read anything other than the Bible. He was talking to a literature major in college and seriously wanted to read only the Bible. My guess is he isn't aware of the purpose of art.

The reason to read more than the Bible is that God created the world and people, both of which are described or shown in art. We learn about or see the beauty in his creation when we view and create good art. Details of life are highlighted so we can see them clearer and appreciate them more—God enjoys us enjoying creation and learning or reflecting on its complexity. Sometimes we focus so much on one thing we forget to look around and appreciate what's around us.

Also, God wants us to communicate with others, and one way to communicate is through art. Art is a form of communication when it's shared with others. Through art we see what others are saying and reflecting on.

The key is that what we view and how we think about and create art should be shaped by the Bible's principles of what is good.

Heaven

Take a moment and think of the key elements which you see in heaven. What are they and what is the most important element?

Is the most important element God? Is he on the list?

The bible describes many of the joys to be found in heaven. God is of course the chief joy in heaven.

It is always of some concern to meet Christians who speak of heaven in many glowing terms but God is absent from the speech. It is almost as if heaven is a delayed form of prosperity gospel where we are rewarded with material gifts for obedience.

It is true of course the bible presents heaven as a material world filled with material beauty and we have glorified material bodies. But it all pales in comparison to God.

God is our inheritance. We miss the great joy of Christian religion in this life when we forget that Christianity is about joy in relationship with God.

We are co-heirs with Christ and adopted into God's family. Only God can satisfy our deepest needs.

John Piper Quote on "God's Unwavering Commitment to Uphold and Display His Glory and His Name"

Here is another bit from John Piper.  I hope you all will take the time to read it.  I try to distill the best of Piper in short bits that you can enjoy. Considering that Piper is one of the best of the reformed preachers and places heavy emphasis on the best and most beautiful thing in the universe, God you can see that I am trying to do you a favor. I’m trying to let you look at what I see as the “best of the best about the Best,” which I hope you will appreciate.

Piper:

Yes. One place to see this is Romans 3:23-25. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Notice that sin is defined in relation to the glory of God. Sin belittles the glory of God. It makes God look less valuable by desiring something else more. Then Paul describes God's remedy for that derision of his glory. Verse 24: ". . . and [they] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."

What we see here is that God sent Jesus to die ("by his blood"), and that by dying the righteousness of God could be vindicated and his anger could be propitiated and sinners who had belittled God's glory could be justified by faith alone. Why did God's righteousness need to be vindicated in this way? Because (v. 25b) he had passed over sins. That is, he had acted as though the derision of his glory didn't matter, and thus his righteousness, his allegiance to that glory, is called into question. He acted as though his glory was of little worth. But it is of infinite worth. And God would be untrue, he would be unrighteous, not to uphold and display the true value of his glory. Therefore, in order to justify sinners (like us!) who belittle his glory, and yet not himself belittle his own glory (in acting as though it didn't matter), he shows the infinite value of his glory by vindicating it with the death of his own Son who died for his Father's glory (John 12:27-28).

Therefore, what Romans 3:23-25 shows (as well as 3:1-8 and other places) is that God's righteousness is, at its essence, God's unswerving allegiance to the infinite value of his own glory - his own name. It's his unwavering commitment to uphold and display his glory and his name.