Compressed Thoughts

When someone says, "to live is Christ, but to die is gain", or "this life is but a vapor", or some other such remark, do you ever find yourself agreeing externally, but internally thinking about certain (good) things you've yet to enjoy? You think to yourself "yes and amen... but I'd sure like to visit the Italian country-side." If it is God's will, you may yet get to enjoy that snippet of creation, but even if you don't, be assured you will not miss any of it in eternity.

# The Rebuke

It's not bad to appreciate, or even love God's creation. Nor what man makes out of God's creation (insofar as it isn't wicked), such as architecture and media. But, as with all things, affections must be rightly ordered. It's probably fine to occasionally long after a certain thing (such as wanting to visit Israel, the Grand Canyon, etc.), but if it is a pattern of your thinking, it may be a sin to put to death.

Don't feel like you're the first to experience this either (this article is in part written as a reminder to myself). There are many wondrous things our Lord allows us to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Our senses were certainly created for enjoyment of the world around us, but we can easily fall into the trap of "if this thing is good, it can't be bad to want it". The fact of the matter is, we'll never experience everything, this side of eternity. Is that unfortunate? Perhaps. (Aren't we promised light suffering and affliction in this life?) But, it's also good to remember that, our experience of good things in this life at all, is a mercy to begin with. Having been born under Adam's sinful nature, no human ever born of Adam deserved to experience even the remotest joy — even a single good sight or smell. Every sunset, every breathtaking mountain vista, all undeserved joys.

You who are in Christ might now argue against what I just said. And perhaps in a way, because of Christ, our enjoyment of God's creation is no longer in-spite of our sinful nature, but rather because he now loves us just as he loves His own son. Yet, it remains true that we're not owed this enjoyment while we remain in our wicked flesh.

# Dullards?

And why do you think you need to experience these things? Have you grown so dull of heart and mind that you no longer behold the beauty of your creator in the "mundane" things of life? Are we like the Athenians in Acts, simply needing new and novel things?

19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are speaking?
20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. So we want to know
what these things mean.” 21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend
their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something newer.) (Acts 17:19-21, LSB)

I assure you there is more beauty in one tree or rock than our minds can comprehend, and I'd like to demonstrate this through some excerpts from the first chapter of the book "Haunted Cosmos, Doing Your Duty in a World That's Not Just Stuff" by pastors Brian Suave and Benjamin Garrett.

There are many things I don't know about the life of a cedar tree, but one thing I do know is that it was something of a specialist in atmospheric science. It knew how to take the light of our local star — grabbing onto photons shot from a solar cannon a good 90,000,000 miles away — and use their energy like a welding torch to slice the carbon atom off of its two oxygen atoms... and then turn that into itself. To make more tree. Starlight, soil, water, and CO2, all the ingredients to make a tree. Can you do that? Can you grab a sunbeam and make an extra arm out of it? Maybe just one more finger on your left hand? That would be handy for those jazz chords, but I must confess that these things are beyond me (the jazz chords and the extra finger).

He goes on to give some more interesting details about it before sarcastically stating "It's fitting, then, that we gave it an important-sounding name, Juniperus virginiana." Then gives more dull scientific facts about said item, before continuing:

And so we know it. We've cataloged it, diagrammed it, analyzed it, and synthesized it with everything else we know, neat as a pin. But I can't help but wonder: Do we really know it yet at all? Or have we just made a lot of noise to cover up the fact that this thing, this tree, is actually something of an enigma? I mean, how did that happen, right? Our factories are pretty impressive, sure. We can make marvels. But can we make self-replicating marvels? Have you ever seen a factory that grows factories, that flings out a few thousand little factory seeds once a year to take root on the front lawn? If so, can you make it run on light beams from the sky? Oh, and you're only allowed to get everything you need to pull all this off from the dirt under your feet.

And if something as pedestrian as a tree is an enigma, what about all the other things? ... I guess what I'm asking is simply: Do you actually know anything about any of these wonders until you properly marvel at them? Do you have a clue if you don't occasionally stop for a good fifteen minutes or so and simply exult in the sheer and absurd magic of it all? ... Every bird feather and every speck of sand, every river rock and every lepton, every nebula and every potato farmer from Idaho. All of it means something. All of it speaks. One thing it's certainly saying? Being bored in a world like this one is probably a sin.

This book is a great, witty/fun read, with short to medium length chapters, that I definitely recommend for any believer that, like me, comes from a very "scientific" or materialistic world view. And I think Brian's point here in chapter 1 is spot on (and admittedly fueled a lot of my desire to write this article).

# An Exhortation

I think what I've said thus far, makes an okay case for not clinging too tightly to this creation, but it doesn't offer any encouragement for the heart. And I don't think this battle for the mind can be won simply by knowing that we must win. We need a motivation for right thinking, not simply a condemnation against wrong thinking. Therefore, I would simply remind the reader that this creation is not perfect. It is under a curse, since Genesis, and will remain under that curse until after the great judgment, where a new heavens and new earth will be made (whether that new earth is a completely new creation or the old one redeemed is neither here nor there). On the surface, that might not sound like encouragement — after all, I’m telling you that the very thing you're afraid of missing out on will one day be destroyed. If you still haven't seen it, let me spell it out: you, Christian, are destined for a new and better creation. A creation free from sin, free from the curse of the fall, a creation which no longer groans.

We will no longer have to settle for mostly good, or partially good. All things will be perfectly good, righteous, and holy. Christian, don't fret about losing out on the imperfect — look ahead to the eternally perfect which awaits you (Colossians 3:1-2). Not only the new creation itself but your new and fully sanctified self, that will no longer become (sinfully) bored with those good experiences from God that you've experienced so many times. Every good thing will be as enjoyable in the billionth year of eternity as it was in the first year. Do you not trust God and His word? No longer will the sin of complacency reign in your members. No longer will you be able to look at a tree and think to yourself "that's cool I guess, but it's just like the last 100 trees I saw."

If God is able to make even fallen honey sweet, how much more sweet will be the things of eternity with Him? Praise God for the good things here and now, and cling to the cross where your true and eternal enjoyment was bought. Our God promises us treasures in heaven (Psalm 16:11), and even more so for those who labor for His glory (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). So, when you find "FOMO" creeping into your mind, that feeling of "what if I don't get to..." — remember the promises of your Savior, and that even these themselves are sweeter than honey.

How sweet is Your word to my taste!
Sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103, LSB)