Our God-bathed world…

posted by Lon

I finally hit chapter 3 of The Divine Conspiracy.

“To [Jesus] eyes this is a God-bathed and God-permeated world. It is filled with a glorious reality… It is a world that is inconceivably beautiful and good because of God and because God is always in it.” (61)

“He is the most joyous being in the universe… Great tidal waves of joy must constantly wash through his being” (62-63)

“God does not “love” us without liking us - through gritted teeth - as “Christian” love is sometimes thought to do” (64)

These statements remind me that God is closer than I think he is. That when we gather as a community of faith, it is not so that we might merely meet God in that place or even in each other, but that we might see God everywhere else we look in the world.

It reminds me of a message I think i’ve heard by Rob Bell on ultimate reality, and how there’s no need to prove God’s existence. That God is revealed when we press through the layers and see reality at its rawest, in creation, in love, friendship, humility…

What amazes me today isn’t that I am loved by God himself, but that I am actually surrounded by the things and people that God loves, that God is thrilled about, and that God finds joy in.  They’re all around me.