Today’s Passage Is The First Sentence Of The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.

All things good, true, and beautiful have their origin in God. Everything owes its existence to God. He is the Ground of Being that sustains all things at all times. It is a matter of physical reality that something cannot come from nothing. The very word, ‘creation’ implies both a beginning and a Creator. The Creator’s existence is, was, and always will be, beyond “time.” This is a great mystery. Science can neither prove, nor disprove it. It can be understand only through the light of faith.

Today’s verse is the first sentence of the greatest love story ever told. God, the Ground of Being, created all things in and through an inconceivable love. He who is all Good, all Truth, and all Beauty created all that is out of that same goodness, truth and beauty. With these first words of this awesome revelation we begin the long journey to come to know, to love, and to serve God, our loving Creator. It is a journey, as we see throughout the unfolding of scripture, that is fraught with rebellion, infidelities, trials, and suffering, interspersed with God’s faithful mercy, support and love. It also reveals that holiness is our natural calling. Indeed, we are continually challenged throughout the Bible, even in the face of our failures, to strive for it. As we see also, we are never left alone, or to our own resources to do this. God walks with us through every chapter and verse of the Bible, and continues to do so with each one of us today.

This first chapter of the Bible describes the creation in loving and simple terms. It begins with the void and darkness, that God causes to suddenly burst with light, then God separated light (day) and darkness (night), the First day. Next, God separates the waters above and those below, making the “dome,” or the sky, the second day. Then the waters under the sky are gathered into a single basin (sea), and dry land appears (earth), the third day. Then plants come forth bearing seed for every kind of fruit. Then the sun and moon and stars, the seasons and days and years (time), the fourth day. Now the waters begin to teem with living creatures, and the birds of the sky, and God blesses them and commands them to multiply, the fifth day. Then God causes the earth to bring forth every kind of living creature, wild and tame. And, finally, he brings forth human beings, which he makes in his own image and likeness. And he gives them dominion over all the rest, the sixth day. On the seventh day God rests. The rest, as they say, is history.

At the end of each day, God stands back and looks at his creation and says of it, “It is good.” Yes! All of Creation is good! Why? Because it comes from the very source of all that is good. This is our first important message in the Scriptures. All of Creation, the heavens, the earth and all of its plants and animals, the seas and all that live in them, are good, and we who have been given dominion over it all are also made in goodness. This is the first attitude that we ought to have in our minds toward all of God’s creation and especially toward our fellow human beings. But we who were made in God’s image and likeness and charged with the stewardship over the rest of God’s creation will, as we see in chapter 2, fall from that grace of natural goodness through the sin of pride. Disobedience enters the story. This is the second important message we are given in only the first couple of pages in the Bible. All of the various kinds of suffering, and especially death, enter the story as a result of our rebelliousness, not God’s plan. The rest of the Bible is then the continuing story of our rebelliousness and God’s infinite mercy, that he gives generously, over and over again, out of his undying love for us. This is why the Bible is the most important book in the world. From the first sentence to the last, it is God’s direct word to us, showing us the ways we have gotten lost, and The Way back to him.

Lord, deepen within us a desire to read, to listen to, and to meditate on your words each day. Help us to know and to understand your word to us more intimately and more clearly. And even more, we ask that you give us the strength and the courage to live in accord with your word in our daily lives. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen!

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