day no. 15,300: "yes!" and "amen!" to God's earth

"Our marriage shall be a yes to God's earth; it shall strengthen our courage to act and accomplish something on the earth. I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon earth also stand with only one leg in heaven " - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom 

This really captures what has developed as a mission statement of sorts for my family in the last year or so. Particularly in light of the recent adoption of postmillennial, optimistic, legacy-minded, Christian conquest married to a commitment to create more delight and enjoyment of earthly life here and now in an effort to practice for eternal life there and then. 

We feast now in order to prepare for that feast then. We rehearse so that we show up in proper shape. We practice to better play the game later. We work to build for God's glory here and now knowing that whatever survives the refining fire of Christ's return will only improve upon what we're already doing, not demolish it entirely.

So, as much as possible, we seek to enjoy God's world in proportion to His enjoyment in creating and sustaining it all.

Psalm 24:1
The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;
the world, and they that dwell therein.

We marry and say, "Yes" to God's green earth in doing so. We are grateful for the flesh in which He has chosen to cloth each and everything, the skin on which He places sentiments in order to make visible His invisible qualities of grace, generosity, creativity and power. 

Romans 1:19-20
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

What God has made is good because its origin is located in Him and His goodness. Sin has corrupted good things, but nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving and a heart full of gratitude that looks up and gladly says, "Thank You!"

1 Timothy 4:1-5
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.