Make Sure You Go Up River As Well

I recently have been reading Joe Rigney’s book, Strangely Bright: Can You Love God and Your World? Not only does Rigney’s writing skill engage the mind, but his illustrations help bring the book’s meaning to life. In today’s post, I want to highlight a statement he made in the third chapter of his book. Notice what he writes:

We must devote careful attention to the world God made, and then we must follow the rivers back to the source. We must chase the sunbeams back to the sun. … My suggestion, based on the way they are used in the Scriptures, is that we should seek to live integrated lives – enjoying God in everything and everything in God…

This is an important concept to capture as we live day by day. You can understand what he is teaching in two statements.

Enjoy the World Around You

Back to the river illustration. As in the river photo above, a beautiful river, just as a sunrise, sunset, or beautiful sunbeams, can capture our attention as we marvel at its beauty, majesty, and serenity. The gorgeous colors, rushing water, and hosts of wildlife resonate in our soul. We see these things, and they bring joy to us. Many of us will gasp, say “Wow!”, or at the very least stop to take in all the sights.

Absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous. Peaceful. And the list of these kinds of tributes in the world around us go on and on.

Enjoy God and Jesus More

We are most unwise though to stop at these places. Again, considering the river and the quote above, we must go past the simple river in front of us to the source of the river itself. In other words, we connect the glory of God’s universe with the glory of God Himself. We allow a majestic, beautiful river to help us reflect on our Majestic, Beautiful God. We marvel at His creative touch, kindness, and majesty.

Rigney writes: “…we seek to let creation be grand, only to remind ourselves that we have not yet begun to experience true grandeur.”

To make the point again, we must never stop at marveling at the river in front of us, or the beautiful fall colors, or a brilliant rainbow. Instead, we appreciate these things deeply in our souls as we go a step further to rejoice in and marvel at our wonderful God.

Of course the ultimate joy of enjoying God is in the person of Jesus Christ.

Rigney later writes:

…we let creation rise to its full height, reaching for the skies with all its towering pleasures, only to then confess from the low-down bottom of our heart that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, the heart of man has not imagined what God has prepared for those who love him (see 1 Cor 2:9).

Jesus is better. The mountains of God’s glory extend far beyond our present experience. These are but the fringes of his ways.

… If I am relating to God properly (and I realize for many that is a very big if), that is, if I know in my bones that Christ is the Alpha and Omega of all joy and delight, then I need not fear the lesser pleasures. Let them erupt. Let them soar as high as they can. For when they do, they carry my joy in God with them.

Excellent.