Everything created by God is good - 18 April 2010 |
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The Bible teaches that “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim 4:4-5).
Look around you. All the things you can see are created by God, so they’re good. Moreover, they were created for our good.
Sometimes, however, we have a hard time believing this. Perhaps we observe that God’s good gifts are abused by the world (as indeed they are), but then we wrongly conclude that we’d be better of avoiding them altogether, or that there’s something inherently bad about some of what God has made . Such a reaction is perhaps understandable, but it’s wrong, and needs to be resisted.
Indeed, Paul is pretty uncompromising in his criticism of those ascetics who “forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods” (v. 3). These, he says, are the “teachings of demons” (v. 1).
Perhaps the key is not to underestimate the sanctifying power of the word of God. These good gifts of God’s creation are “made holy by the word of God and prayer.”
This text therefore challenges us to enjoy all the good gifts of God’s creation, including the things that the world has corrupted through misuse.
This reminds us that we need to confess our sins.
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Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Exhortations before confession, Minister's Blog