Without Excuse

Have you ever noticed that whenever you see people in beach pictures they always look to be having a good time even if they are covered by a ton of sand or wallowing in the salty ocean, waves crashing against them, knocking them under? It's not often you see someone who doesn't look happy or peaceful. On occasion I've seen the contemplative sort. But even they look to be pretty tranquil. I recall times when I've went to the beach and just listened to the sound of the waves crashing to shore, gulls cawing, smelling the salty air, praying for a balmy breeze to cool me down a bit...as I gazed out onto the horizon it suddenly seemed that all of life's cares were just washed away. No worries here. There was a tranquility about the ocean; a calmness that seemed to soothe the soul. God's presence just seems to be so obvious whenever I am out in nature like that. It's so big...so beautiful. And I can't even imagine it just popping into existence, as some would think. 

Many times people ask, "Would God send someone to hell who had never heard the gospel message?" In years past I might have asked that very question. It doesn't really seem like a fair deal to condemn someone who didn't have the chance to know God. But in Romans 1:20 it says: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Now, I'm no Bible scholar but this reminds me of what I was just speaking about....how something so big, so vast could never have just popped into existence. It would require a much greater power...a Creator. Psalms 19:1 tells us: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." This tells me that if a man can believe that there is a Creator of the earth around him, and he seeks to know that Creator, then God will surely make a way to reveal the gospel to him. We are told that if we seek Him, we will find Him. That would seem to include those who may have no knowledge of who He is, just a knowing that there has to be a Creator.

For those who question God's existence, go outside and take a look at the world around you. Not just a glimpse of things, but take a deep look at the complexities of this world. It takes as much faith to believe that this world was created from nothing as it does to believe it was created by God. And if evolution were true, why has it stopped? If man truly did come from an ape, why then hasn't he evolved into something new? And what about all the details of the human body? The way things all work together is an amazing thing. Do you actually believe it just happened by some explosive circumstance?

Until next time...

~jan~