Discover How God Continuously Sustains the World He Created
The familiar opening line of Genesis, that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” introduces a simple, but profound idea. Everything that exists, visible and invisible, was created by God. If true, the world is infused with purpose and design. Life is not random but ordered. There are givens in creation and about the human condition to which we must conform.
And yet, as significant as these implications are, there is much more to the doctrine of creation than “God created.” Other passages throughout Scripture, for example John 1 and Colossians 1, claim that God’s creative work is not confined to the distant past. Rather, God remains present, involved, and sovereign over and in His creation. Specifically, it is in and through Christ that God remains present, involved, and sovereign over and in His creation.
In Colossians 1:16-17, Paul wrote that it was by Christ, the “image of the invisible God and firstborn of all creation, that “all things were created.” And “in Him, all things hold together” (emphasis added). In other words, God is more than a first cause. He not only created the world; He sustains it. Twentieth-century theologian Robert Capon helpfully described this truth in this way: “If God wanted to get rid of the universe, He would not have to do anything; He would have to stop doing something.”
At the same time, it would be inaccurate to think of God’s sustaining work as a kind of animating, impersonal energy. This is what older generations called vitalism (and Star Wars fans know as “The Force”). God is intimately and personally involved with His creation. He is, Scripture reveals, mindful of the sparrow (Matthew 10:29) and the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7).
It’s a remarkable thing that the God who created and sustains all things knows and cares for His creation intimately. He not only delights in His work, He does not grow weary of it. As G.K. Chesterton beautifully remarked, God is unlike grown-ups who become wearied by monotony:
It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately but has never got tired of making them.
God never tires of creating or sustaining his creation because he delights in it. According to Capon, “He likes (His world); therefore, it stays.”
In a Christian worldview, the creation is more miraculous than mechanical, more enchanted than we often realize. Of course, the world is orderly and works according to identifiable and predictable laws. And yet, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, it is graciously and lovingly held together just as it was brought into being, by the very Word of God.
To learn more about the implications of God’s intimate, active role in creating and sustaining His world, see the new book by Dr. Edward Klink, The Beginning and End of All Things: The Biblical Theology of Creation and New Creation. Dr. Klink is a friend of the Colson Center, and we are offering a copy of his book with a gift of any amount to the Colson Center this month. To give, go to colsoncenter.org/april.
This Breakpoint was co-authored by Jared Hayden. If you’re a fan of Breakpoint, leave a review on your favorite podcast app. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.
Photo Courtesy: © Getty Images/buradaki
Publish Date: May 14, 2024
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
