And God said…and it was good…and it was good…and it was very good.
-from Genesis 1

We’re starting a new series this Sunday called “Generous.” And what we see in the Scriptures is from the very beginning, God is a generous God--the generous love and energy of a holy and perfect God gets poured out into a joyful creation.

What God creates is beautiful, intricate, wondrous. Creation is dizzying in its complexity and exactness while at the same time gloriously simple. Everything from the water cycle (that keeps plants and animals alive) to the laws of physics (that hold thousands of galaxies together) originate in the generous creativity of God.

Jonathan Edwards, an American pastor and theologian from the 1700’s, described the creation event as the love of God that, like an over-full fountain, overflowed. God creates out of the super-abundance of his perfect character and love.

Whenever we come across something that has been perfectly well made, whether it’s a symphony or a sweater or a movie or a car or a presentation at work, it invariably requires a generous amount of time, energy, and thought. Nothing excellent or “good” comes without someone (often many “someones”) offering up their resources of time, talents, or finances generously.

God has given us signs and signals of his character in the generosity of the wonder of all that he has created. Some people, so enraptured by the wonder, make the mistake of worshiping the creation. Others, so caught up in how well it fits together of it, dismiss the need for a creator at all—this thing can run on its own!

But the Scriptures declare that the wonder and precision has a source: the generous Creator.

As you go about your day, take some time to wonder at the creation: trees, skies, birds, every human being you come into contact with. Let those be signs of God’s generous character for you today.