A Remnant Of Beauty

So often we, as Christians, will look at the world around us and talk about the beauty that we see there. In fact, sometimes you will hear Christians, or preachers, go on and on about the beauty and wonder of God's Creation, but is this really warranted? Well, it depends on how you're looking at it. It is true that there are ceaseless wonders in God's Creation, and it is true that there is beauty, but it's not as good as it could be.

You see, because of sin in this world, instead of the Paradise that God initially created, since the fall, we are surrounded on all sides by death, destruction and despair. In Genesis 1:31 we read, "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." (ESV) God is calling His Creation "very good." That's not good by our standards, that's good by God's standards, that is beauty and wonder beyond what we can even imagine, but that's not the world that we live in today. Romans 8:20-22 says, "²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." (ESV) So it can be seen that it was not only humans that were affected by the fall, but all of Creation is in "bondage to corruption" because of the curse of sin, and will be until God sets all things right at the end of the age.

So, God created all things in total perfection, and that total perfection was despotically ravaged by man's fall into sin. At the end of time, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this earth, and all of humanity is resurrected, either to eternal Glory, or to eternal destruction, God will restore His creation to it's ultimate perfection, and it's glorious beauty, which will never be desecrated again.

For the time being though, we live with a fallen world, and all the beauty that we see around us is but a remnant of the former beauty that God's Creation once was. So, if the remnants of beauty that can be seen in mountains and flowers and creatures, and many other things, are moving and stirring to us now, just wait, because we haven't seen anything yet!