God's Love is R(evolution)ary

For many Christians, the thought of evolution, particularly the part about humans sharing a common ancestor with modern apes, is a noxious vapor we’d rather avoid. Anybody taken a strong sniff of their trash lately? What if we could learn to experience the character of God as revealed by natural history working progressively through billions of years of life on Earth as a fragrant aroma that bolstered our faith? My working theory is that many of us “normal folks” who live in some intersection between a scientific and Christian view of reality have come to reconcile the supposed tension without really learning to savor the dual realities as sweet.

For many Christians, the thought of evolution…is a noxious vapor we’d rather avoid…What if we could learn to experience the character of God as revealed by natural history working progressively through billions of years of life on Earth as a fragrant aroma that bolstered our faith?

I had this concept come to life watching Apple’s “Prehistoric Planet” recently as feathered velociraptors gracefully pursued their prey navigating a perilous cliff with almost avian fluidity. I thought to myself, “Wow, God must have really enjoyed this!” Imagine God, who is outside of time, seeing what raptors had become and just loving his creation. Now begin to wrap your mind around that going on for billions of years in the past stretching into what our capacity can only describe as infinity. So often in the evangelical imagination we are quick to disregard life prior to the described experience of Adam and Eve because we view it only as chaotic and destructive. We cannot conceive how God could have called it good. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s caustic phrase, “nature is red in tooth and claw,” offensively wafts through our minds. What if the 165 million years that dinosaurs were on Earth were really an expression of God’s delightful love?

In our age of instant everything, we can feel uncomfortable with a God who works slowly, misinterpreting patience as absence. But 2 Peter 3 says that God is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. We would do well to consider this in relationship to God’s work throughout history and in our lives.

Could it be that in imagining a God who has enjoyed and created billions of years of life on Earth that we can begin to see his profound patience with us now?

Could it be that in imagining a God who has enjoyed and created billions of years of life on Earth that we can begin to see his profound patience with us now? Can we meditate on the vastness of his love, perhaps poured out on Australopithecus afarensis as a carpenter loves his handiwork and imagine how much more God loves us as humans he has breathed life into?

Ancient Past Evidence of God’s Present Love

I am convinced that deeply considering God’s ancient past can illuminate our view of God’s present love for us. Let me give you two big ideas and some concluding thoughts. First, we could all stand to reflect on God’s fatherly love and acknowledge that his patience stretches back further than we can comprehend. While animals were evolving, the sea levels were changing, and mountains were rising and falling, God was anticipating us in love.

Rather than taking a posture of offense at the possibility of the Earth being much older than we may have learned in childhood, what if we gave our minds over to contemplate the deep, patient love of God which is better than the best earthly fathers we can imagine? Instead of bristling at the idea of evolution and creating defenses for God’s creative work that fits into our temporal understanding, what if we gave our hearts to feel the powerful love of God that formed the Grand Canyon millions of years ago and is present and accessible for us today?

Secondly, considering God’s chosen method of progress over time for developing his creatures should give us motivation to trust the loving development he is doing in our lives today. One of my favorite pastors often reminds his congregation that God loves you, not the future version of you, but that love is never intended to leave us where we are. Many of us succumb to the arrival fallacy. We look back on our lives and can measure significant change in our mindset, personality, interests, and beliefs over the last ten years, but we fool ourselves into thinking there won’t be much change over the next ten years.

As we consider the eons of creation, as we marvel at the billions of years of God’s artistry, from galaxies to the genetic code, we are inhaling…A love that has been patient, that has been deliberate, and that, much like an eternal fragrance, never fades but only deepens.