By Him And For Him And For His Pleasure

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or prinicpalities, or powers, all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Col. 1:16 and 17)

I have spent all the time I care to spend arguing about creation versus evolution. I find that these discussions focus only on the material realm, since that is all the evolutionists care about, and never take into consideration the whole spectrum of the invisible creation. Of course, "scientists" would dismiss that out of hand since invisible things can't be seen. But invisible things are more real than seen things because they are eternal and will never fade, rot, rust, or decay.

The "creation or evolution" discussions don't get past the question of "Did God create everything" and look into the fact that it was Jesus who did the creating. When God does anything, He does it by His Son. We come up short in God if we leave Jesus out of any equation. Everything is by Him and for Him. Let Christ be magnified in all we say and do.

And Jesus didn't just create everything and leave it free to develop on its own. He didn't just cause the initial creation and then withdraw from His creation to watch it from afar. No, by Him all things consist. He holds all things together. He has been forever involved on an intimate basis with each aspect of His creation. Never for a second has He taken His hand off that which He created. The atom spinning wildly, the neutrons and protons, are all held together by the word of His power. Were He to remove His hand it would all spin out of control and universal chaos, disruption and meltdown would ensue.

That alone probably answers the questions about where did the dinosaurs go and how did the moths change and where's the missing link and all that, although I don't feel like pursuing that now. It's enough for me to know that He is in control.

Moreover, John the Revelator tells us that all things "are and were created for His pleasure." (Rev. 4:11) (I think I'll have to think about the "are" part in that verse a lot more before I even begin to understand it; is He still creating?) Evolution gives no reason for existence; the creation story in its entirety gives the best reason possible - its all for the Lord's pleasure. There is no better reason to live for than that. He must take pleasure in the sunrise and the sunset, in the bird's song and the falling snow. He must take pleasure in the chipmunk with his cheeks stuffed full of treasure and my dog dancing in circles to greet me when I come home every day. He must take pleasure in the grand sweep of the Rocky Mountains and the vast array of stars and planets and nebulae and galaxies.

And He takes pleasure in His people - He sings over us, He rejoices over us, He shouts over us. Shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing, honor and majesty, praise to our King. Nothing compares to the treasure I have in You.