The Four Elements of Faith

If God the Creator brought into existence the earth and all of her glory, then why do we fear a spirituality that has anything to do with "tree-hugging" or creation-serving? Isn't care for the earth just good stewardship of what man and woman were given care over? What I am afraid that our churches are doing through our teaching is simplifying God down to only one or two aspects of his nature. God is Lord, Provider, Savior, Almighty, Redeemer,...and Creator! But I don't think we get good, solid preaching on what it means to humanity that God is the Creator.

Meditate if you will on what it means to you to have a creative God. First things that come to my mind: God values beauty, color, and variety! There is genius expressed in the workings of our human bodies and in the bodies of the animals. God loves when WE create. And there is something else: When the 7 days of creating were over, God took nothing away. Nothing that he created is bad- every living thing is PRECIOUS in his site. Every part of the created order was intentional. We are precious, the animals are precious, the green earth is precious.

Spiritual literature, poetry, prayer, and song are all entrenched with earth symbolism. The Holy Spirit in the Hebrew language shares the word with "wind" (ruach). The Holy Spirit is also given as a tongue of fire. We are baptized in water, our faith is rooted, Jesus is the vine, etc. For now simply reflect on what these symbols mean to you and stay tuned for a series built around the 4 elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. My prayer is that something unique will be revealed to each of us and that our understanding of God's character will become a little but clearer.

Peace, and God Bless