DAY THIRTY - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE CREATION

by King's Cross Training

 

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning..”

Romans 8: 22

Reading: Revelation 21

Creation is such a beautiful treasure. God made it, for us, with much love. In many ways, Genesis 1 is the happiest, loveliest text in the whole Bible. Not long after, the story turns sour.

Adam and Eve are escorted from the place of boundless provision, into a world that is now straining under the reality of curse. This doesn’t take away from the fact that when God saw creation, he declared it “good”. We know this because of His promise to redeem creation.

If the same God who created the world has redeemed it, then creation, despite its present bondage to sin and decay, must ultimately be good. Otherwise, it would not have been worth redeeming. And if creation has been redeemed, then we can look forward to a new creation, the "new heaven and new earth" described in Revelation 21. The hope is not of God rebuilding creation from scratch, or helping us escape into some kind of disembodied, immaterial state. No, our final hope is for the transfiguring fulfillment of this present creation into all that it was originally destined to be. Given its redeemed status and promised transformation, the created order is not to be written off as evil or unimportant, but rather to be cared for, respected, and delighted in.

Prayer

Give me every opportunity and wisdom, Lord, to know how to care for the creation You put under our care.

For the family

Explain

Explain briefly that although creation was cursed as a result of men’s disobedience, God has a plan to redeem it.

Engage

Discuss together the changes you can make as a family to help to better steward the beautiful world that God made for us. Here are some suggestions, but allow the kids to come up with their own.

  1. Cut down on plastic use. Discuss how.
  2. Use shower and bath water to flush toilets
  3. Go on a family litter clearing outing
  4. Buy each member of the family their own reusable water bottle/coffee cup
  5. Search for energy vampies - energy vampires are home appliances that still use significant electricity when they’re in standby or charging mode. Video games, cell phone chargers, microwaves and plugged in MP3 players are chief culprits. Walk with your children through the house, looking for items that could be unplugged, like the microwave when it’s not in use or a television in a guest bedroom. Kids can also do a nightly unplugging round before bed, looking for things like phone chargers that are still plugged in even if they’re not being used.

Back to FAITH STATION