YOUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

Col 1:16-17 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1: 16-17 NIV)

Have you ever considered your place in the universe?

Everyone that takes the time to reflect: to stand on the seashore and feel his own insignificance, to walk in the forest and be overwhelmed by the complexity and beauty of the natural world, to stand ant-like amidst the majesty of Yosemite Valley or the Grand Tetons knows the longing for transcendence. These places whisper to us: there is something more.

Why should we alone be the ones able to appreciate the grandeur? And why are we alone able to feel that longing and wonder where it comes from?

It’s because we are made “in the image” of the Logos, the great creative mind who brings order out of chaos, beauty from simplicity, and splendor out of rocks, trees, sky and sea.

Through him all things were made. And then he became what he made. What does that tell us about who we really are?

We are not the random combination of genetic material accidentally deposited on some airless planet without a dust mite’s chance of survival. We are the brilliant creations of a fantastically powerful and singularly purposeful God who wants to know us and be known by us.

You are not junk. No one is junk. You and everyone else you will ever meet are beings of incredible value. You long for transcendence when you visit the grand cathedrals of nature because you were composed by the transcendent One, made for a relationship with him, made to dwell in harmony with him in the world that he created for us to enjoy.

That relationship, the intimacy with transcendence that we all long for, was lost in the Garden of Eden, when our first parents rebelled. The way back to that it, the door to the grandest cathedral of them all, was reopened when the babe was born in Bethlehem.

What is our place in the universe? Our place is at the cradle. Our place is at the Cross, where the door to the throne room of God was reopened and his rebellious children were welcomed home.