I’m sure you will be familiar with Louis Armstrong’s moving song, What a Wonderful World. In it, he evokes the vibrant beauty of the world and the heavens, the warmth of friendship and the marvellous gifts of children and childhood. We can sense a deep gratitude in his words that is beautifully brought out by the melody. Even on a cold, grey, damp day like the one I am writing on, we Christians can say a hearty “Amen” to all that.
The Bible also celebrates the goodness of God’s creation. In its opening chapter, God looks over all that he has made, like a builder or landscape gardener standing back to assess the results of his work, and sees that everything is “very good” (Genesis 1:31). The writer of Psalm 19 is thrilled by how the world reveals its Creator’s own beauty and goodness: “The heavens are telling the glory of God,” he declares (Psalm 19:1). St. Paul agrees, saying in his letter to the Romans, “Ever since the creation of the world, [God’s] eternal power and divine nature…have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Romans 1:20).
Yet, as Christians, we recognise that is only part of the story. We know that creation is good, but it’s also clear that not all is well with it. We struggle with hardships in life, with temptations to sin. Our bodies are subject to accident, illness, decay and, eventually, death. We spend the prime of our lives toiling for our daily bread. On top of that, we wrestle with the question of whether life has any purpose, any ultimate meaning at all. It’s a timeless question: twenty-five centuries ago, a teacher reflected on “all the deeds that are done under the sun” and concluded that “all is vanity and a chasing after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14).
But there is good news! God has always had a plan so set things right, not just for us men and women, but for the whole of creation. We’ll explore it in this Sunday’s instalment of our current preaching series, when we look at Romans 8:18-30. This passage is the pinnacle of Paul’s teachings in Romans. After a long climb, carefully leading us through God’s deeds for his people in the preceding chapters, Paul at last brings us to the summit, where we have a glorious vista of the whole of God’s glorious plan. God will free not just humankind from vanity and suffering, but also all of creation, for all eternity! We have reached the halfway point in our journey, the watershed between how and why questions and so whats and therefores as Paul begins to draw out the implications of his teaching. But we’ll begin the descent next time. This Sunday, let’s pause at the summit and take in the breathtaking view of God’s relentless love for us.
What a wonderful world we already have! And what a wonderful God we have, who will bring the world to full and complete goodness, and us with it. Come and celebrate God’s marvellous plan with us as we continue our journey through Romans this Sunday.
Matthew, Ministry Team Member