Christians walk in God’s world with a different step. The truth about God’s world changes the way we think, speak and work. Let’s be reinvigorated for our mission by what we learned from Genesis Chapter 2:
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden , in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…(Genesis 2:8-9).
The God of Israel has created a first-class world. What He creates is truly ‘good’. And this ‘garden’ is a place where humanity can thrive . ‘Pleasant to the sight and good for food’, it both sustains and pleasures. God does not stop at feeding Adam and Eve - He delights and woos them with aesthetic beauty.
What does this imply for Christian discipleship? Christian discipleship begins with delight and wonder. Delighted immersion in God’s world, full of praise and wonder.
It helps to recognize that the default posture of our culture towards the world is not wonder but convenience. Our culture of convenience and consumption has a Babylonian, second-class view of the world. Sometimes we are too busy to pause and delight in the world that God has made:
In a way, nobody sees a flower really, it is so small, we haven't time—to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. Georgia O'Keefe
Delight then (mixed as it is with grief) can be a dominant tone in our lives.