Wayne Richardson
Clearwater Christian Church
So the name of this Clearwater Times column is called “Think on These Things.” So I figured I would shoot one across the bow and see where the chips fall. Here it goes….
“I think God is the most competitive person I know.” Now that’s a wing dinger of a statement.
I got thinking after watching this year’s provincial baseball tournament here in Clearwater; we humans are quite competitive. Now granted some people are more competitive than others, myself included. July 5/6 weekend there was a bit of dirt kicked around, some questioned calls, even a “you’re out of here!” I even found myself getting caught up in the excitement of it all. All in all though it was a great weekend of good clean baseball competition. The bible tells us we are created in God’s Image. Genesis 1:26-27
(26) Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
(27) God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
Now I don’t think God is overly concerned over a few baseball games, however He is very concerned over those He loves: “Us” His creation. I also believe He is in constant pursuit of our love, not that He needs it, but that He desires a loving relationship between us and Him. In a way it is a competition between us and God, we pull back and He pursues. We reject, He accepts, we disbelieve, He proves. In Romans 1:19-20 Paul writes to the Roman Church:
(19) Because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
(20) For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.
God shows us He is real through His creation, He reveals himself in us by the many gifts we are given and He pursues us by giving us a way into a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. So in a way it may seem like God is competing against us, but in actual fact God is competing for us. The encouraging aspect of this is that God has never given up on us. If you ask me, that’s pretty competitive.
John 3:16-17 tells us: (16) For this is the way God loved the world. He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
I encourage you to “think on these things.”