Here’s a Christmas bible verse you probably won’t see on Facebook or hanging in people’s kitchens, but it’s one I’ve been contemplating the most this Christmas season: Romans 1:25, in which Paul writes They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, so they worshipped and served created things instead of the creator Himself, who is to be praised forever, Amen!
One of the things that anchors my faith is how accurate the bible is in describing the human condition. 2,000 years after Paul wrote his letters, I can directly relate to what Paul is saying. I can nod my head in agreement to what we see in the world today all the way through the book of Romans. For whatever reason, I’ve noticed more this year how I can be sold a bill of goods on how the created things of this world can bring me joy. Just in the last day, here are some of the ad messages I’ve seen:
· Joy is Made – Amazon
· Joy to the World – JCPenney
· We Are Generation Joy – BMW
Even as I think back to different “Christmas” classic films such as Rudolph, Christmas Story, or National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, the message of all of those is to redirect our source of joy to one place or another in this world. Now, I could easily look down my nose at these specks of sin and ignore the potential log in my own eye when it comes to finding my satisfaction in created things. Or, I could realize that I do it too if I’m not careful.
Hunting is one of those areas where I can easily fall into the trap of worshipping created things. Spend any time ingesting hunting media and you can see how easily it can happen. Inches on antlers and food plot uniformity and trail camera pictures and ‘my deer’ and ‘my spot’ can all lead to finding my joy in the wrong things. Heck, even the idea of being a Basic Hunter is something that can go too far. If I’m being honest, the amount of anger and jealousy I used to experience at my lack of ‘success’ is one of the things that made me take a step back and truly define my hunting goals.
One of those hunting goals I have is to enjoy God’s creation. Taking out God from creation is a small textual change that completely flips the priorities in the wrong order. It may seem trivial, but God (not his creation) is the most basic, fundamental source of my joy, and I know what happens when I build my foundation on a rock vs. sinking sand. Marveling at God’s creation helps me to worship the Creator.
Just sitting in a swamp thicket or pine tree stand or open hardwoods and watching an entire world go about its day and knowing this same scene of wonder repeats itself billions of times each moment across our entire globe is awe-striking. Using the incredibly rare opportunity of hours of relative silence for reflection on life and prayer and just stream-of-uninterrupted-consciousness is a gift. The obvious gift of sustenance to my family and a true appreciation for the system of life and death and provision God gives that I don’t quite experience when my food comes wrapped in styrofoam and cellophane.
Hunting is one of the many things in life that I try to use as a reminder of the Creator. It’s easy to get caught up in the wonders of the creation because the creation was made to reflect God’s glory. I aim to worship the Creator during my enjoyment of the creation. It’s the most basic purpose for which I was created.
I welcome any questions or comments on this subject. If it’s something new to you which you’d like to understand better, I suggest reading the gospel of John this Christmas season. Merry Christmas!