All Things Wise and Wonderful
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” ~Acts 17:24-25
The Bible teaches that all things were created by God (Gen 1:1) and that through Christ they are upheld by the word of His power (Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:3). Not only have all things been created by God, so too have all people (Psa 139:13). Everyone who has ever lived owes his or her existence to God Almighty (Acts 17:28). By God’s common grace people are able to live, think, act, and create, even when their living, thinking, acting, and creating is contrary to God’s will. The most ardent atheist owes his or her ability to reject God to God Himself.
The twentieth-century Dutch theologian Cornelius Van Til was riding on a train in Holland when he saw a little girl sitting on her father’s lap. Apparently the father had instructed her to do something she didn’t like, and she responded by slapping him in the face. Van Til observed that this is exactly how the self-proclaimed wise people of this world act when they deny God’s existence. In order for that little girl to slap her father, she needed him to hold her up on his knee. In the same way, for the atheist to strike the proverbial blow across God’s face, he needs the Lord to uphold him on His knee, such as it were.
Where is the wise person (I Cor 1:20)? He is sitting on God’s knee, that’s where. He is using the mind God made when he was still inside his mother’s womb. He is thinking his atheistic thoughts only because he lives and moves and has his being in God. It is common grace that allows people to conclude that God’s wisdom (i.e., the gospel of Jesus Christ) is foolishness, when in actuality, the foolishness of God is wiser than the greatest wisdom of men (I Cor 1:25).
It’s easy to see the glory of God in creation, but sometimes we forget to see the majesty of God in people, especially those who reject His existence. Perhaps you’re tempted to think that only Christians bear the image of God. But the Bible is clear that all people bear His image and are therefore imbued with dignity and worth (Gen 1:27; 9:6; Psa 8:5). When was the last time you heard a person on the opposite side of the political spectrum and thought to yourself, Thank God for giving that person life? When did you last hear an atheist mock Christianity and conclude, While I believe they are wrong, I am thankful for their existence, for even if they deny God, their being magnifies His glory?
My friends, perhaps we might show the world what love for neighbor and concern for our enemies looks like by remembering that even the so-called wise of this age — those who often deny or mock God’s existence — are still image bearers and that their existence ultimately results in God being glorified.
Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Pastor of Teaching & Spiritual Formation