what pleases God

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Revelation 4:1-11. It teaches us (or at least reminds us of) something really important.

STUFF pleases God. We are sometimes tempted to think of stuff as evil. We have some leftover gnosticism in our thinking, and it tries to convince us that we have to rise above the STUFF of this world in order to be pure and holy. That we have to despise the things around us in order to pursue spiritual things.

But God MADE stuff. And He called it good. But wait, it gets better.

See, we're also tempted to think that people are scum. That the world would be better off without us. That we're only selfish, mean, and horrible all of the time. And a glance at the news, or your social media of choice, will probably support that view.

But God MADE people. And not only did He call us good... He called us VERY good. The pinnacle of His creation, no less. Do people do horrible things? Of course they do. We all have plenty of examples of people doing horrible things to one another. Recently Florida Man stabbed a woman in the head for giving him an undercooked baked potato. This really happened, just a few days ago. But people are capable of doing amazing things, too. Check this out. Or take a peep at this.

God made STUFF, and He called it good. He made us, and called us very good. Let's live up to His desires. (And get back up when we fall down in the attempt.)

God, thanks for making such great stuff. Help us to be more like You intended us to be.